Rowland-Smith joins a not-so-great club in Mariners history

CHICAGO – A case could be made that Ryan Rowland-Smith and the Seattle Mariners were beaten Tuesday after his 12th pitch.

At that point, the embattled lefty had allowed a single, stolen base and the RBI single that put the Chicago White Sox ahead for good, 1-0, on their way to an 11-0 victory that put Rowland-Smith in the Mariners’ record books.

And almost certainly cost him his job.

Unable to keep his ball down – or out of the middle of the plate – Rowland-Smith gave up four runs in the first inning, two more in the second and 11 in his five innings to match the most runs allowed by a starting pitcher in franchise history.

He’s in good company. Randy Johnson did it once and Jamie Moyer twice, in back-to-back starts, but that was no consolation.

“I kept working,” Rowland-Smith said quietly. “I couldn’t get the ball down, I kept leaving it up …”

And the White Sox kept hitting it. Hard.

“Ryan gave up 11 hits, seven were extra-base hits and three were home runs,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “He’s made adjustments in the bullpen, he and (pitching coach) Rick Adair felt confident coming in tonight, but it’s just not translating into the game.

“We’ll talk about it, talk with Jack (Zduriencik) and see what we decide to do. I don’t want to make that decision right now. Rowland-Smith works as hard as anyone, and you’ll see glimpses of it out there. We don’t have an answer.”

On a 39-62 team Rowland-Smith is the 2010 poster boy – a 27-year-old who came into the season with optimism and confidence, only to find himself 1-10 with a 6.96 earned-run average after his career-best 19th start.

Will there be a 20th?

Rowland-Smith is out of options, meaning if the team were to attempt to send him to the minor leagues he would have to be designated for assignment, giving other teams the opportunity to claim him off waivers.

A move to the bullpen would be his second of the season, and wouldn’t promise regular work or an answer.

“He’s been given the opportunity,” Adair said. “Good as he is, it hasn’t translated. As much as anything, his pitches have been in the middle of the plate.”

Home runs by Alexei Ramirez, Paul Konerko and Andruw Jones left the Mariners and their please-resuscitate-if-found offense hopelessly behind. But that might have been said when it was 1-0.

Given the first chance to score, the Mariners put Ichiro Suzuki at first and, after Russell Branyan’s one-out single, had runners at first and third base in the first inning.

What happened? What usually does – the worst-possible option.

Jose Lopez not only grounded into a rally-gutting double play, he felt his left hamstring tighten up on the play and had to leave the game.

“He’s day-to-day,” Wakamatsu said of his cleanup hitter.

Yes, that’s how the 101st game of the season went.

Behind the plate, veteran catcher Josh Bard tried everything he could think of to help Rowland-Smith.

“We tried to double up on the change-up, we tried to throw the breaking ball, to get a feel for it,” Bard said. “It just steamrolled. In this league, when you struggle, it’s like a pack of jackals on you. Hitters don’t miss mistakes.

“He knows what he has to do, he just can’t seem to do it. Everyone in this clubhouse hurts for him. We know how much it means to him, how hard he’s working.

“A lot of guys might have quit after the second inning. Rowland-Smith kept working, kept trying, kept battling.”

If you’re wondering why Rowland-Smith was left out there for five innings, there’s an answer.

“After he gave up seven runs early, it was either leave him out there and try to get as many innings as we could or decimate the bullpen,” Wakamatsu said. “At this point of the season, some of it is cumulative – we’ve got a lot of innings on a lot of relievers. We can’t just keep adding on.”

So Rowland-Smith staggered through five innings and Brian Sweeney worked the last three, shutting out a Chicago team that might have lost interest.

The Mariners lost for the 18th time in their last 24 games. Offensively, they were shut out for the seventh time this season, collecting seven hits.

That may be misleading. Chone Figgins had two hits – one a bloop to left field, the second a bloop to right. All seven Seattle hits were singles.

Gavin Floyd went seven innings, Matt Thornton and Tony Peña one each. The Mariners never came closer to scoring than in that first inning. Once Lopez grounded into the double play, the game lasted, oh, another 12 pitches or so.