OAKLAND, Calif. – Seattle Mariners pitcher Jason Vargas has about five starts left this season. If he’s lucky, none of them will be against Oakland.
Then again, it really hasn’t mattered much who the opponent is when the left-hander has been on the hill. The results always seem to be the same – a rocky outing ending with another loss.
Vargas barely made it through five innings Friday night in a 9-2 loss to Seattle – and it could have been worse. The Athletics batted around in the third inning but left five runners on base against Vargas while beating him for the third time this season.
“The big inning has been killing me, it’s been killing the team,” said Vargas, who walked four and had four strikeouts. “The fact of the matter is I haven’t been very good. The season’s kind of winding down and I gotta figure it out pretty quick.”
Vargas (7-13) took the loss but he wasn’t the only Mariners pitcher who got hit hard.
Cesar Jimenez allowed three runs in of an inning, and Jeff Gray was tagged for a three-run home run by Cliff Pennington on his first pitch after replacing Jimenez in the seventh.
Just another frustrating night in a season that has been filled with them – both for the Mariners and their pitching.
“(Vargas) was behind most of the night and that made it difficult for him,” Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. “It seems like the last couple of outings it’s been one pitch in a key situation allows them to put a big inning together. That’s what we saw tonight.”
Hideki Matsui provided the big blow with a three-run double off Vargas in the third. Cliff Pennington also had three RBI, while Brandon Allen and Scott Sizemore drove in runs for the A’s, who won their second straight following a five-game losing streak.
It was the latest setback for Vargas, who has given up 22 earned runs over his last 212/3 innings. The lefty has won only once since going 6-6 before the All-Star break.
“I didn’t feel like I was abused out there,” Vargas said. “One pitch did it. I feel fine. I’m getting behind more than I’d like to, but more than anything it’s just not being able to put the big inning away.”
Guillermo Moscoso (7-8) snapped a two-game losing streak despite allowing his first earned run in 252/3 innings against AL West opponents. He improved to 5-2 with a 2.62 ERA at home this season.
Franklin Gutierrez and Brendan Ryan drove in runs for the Mariners, who lost for the sixth time in eight games.
Moscoso, who retired the final 16 batters he faced, completed seven innings, allowing two runs – one earned – and five hits. He walked one and struck out six. Moscoso went at least seven innings for just the second time in nine starts since the All-Star break.
The Mariners scored single runs in the first and second. Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single and reached third on Michael Taylor’s fielding error. Gutierrez grounded out to plate Suzuki. Ryan added an RBI single in the second.
“We came out good,” Wedge said. “We were in there hacking. They weren’t giving away at-bats. We just didn’t have a lot to show for it.”
Matsui’s three-run double in the third put the A’s in front for good. Allen added a run-scoring single.
Sizemore had an RBI single in the fifth and Pennington’s seventh home run in the seventh made it 9-2. Matsui scored on a wild pitch earlier in the inning.
ON TAP
Seattle plays at Oakland in second game of the series at 1:05 p.m. It will be televised by Root Sports. Probable starting pitchers: Brandon McCarthy (7-7, 3.64 ERA) vs. Michael Pineda (9-8, 3.71).
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