The Seattle Mariners stayed with the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, which led them right into major league history.
When New York broke a tie to go ahead, 3-2, in the sixth inning, the Mariners got to the ninth inning still down that one run – only to fall prey to Mariano Rivera, whose 600th career save put an end to Seattle’s 87th loss.
‘‘I think he’s the best closer in the history of the game, which is one hell of a statement,” manager Eric Wedge said. “We tried like heck to get it done in the eighth and keep him out of there, we just came up a swing short.
“Certain guys, when they’re at there best, you think that way. Rivera has been that guy for 15 years.”
On a night when the Mariners struck out 17 times, the ninth inning ended not with a swing, but a tag. Ichiro Suzuki, who’d singled with one out and was still on first base with two outs, tried to steal second to get into scoring position.
Instead, catcher Russell Martin threw him out – and Rivera took the Mariners into history with him. The second man to reach the 600-save plateau, Rivera is one save behind the all-time leader, Trevor Hoffman.
“Ichiro’s a great base stealer and you have to trust him there,” Wedge said. “Mariano was quick to the plate, they made a good throw to second base and got him.”
The Mariners best shot late was in the eighth inning, not the ninth.
Knowing Rivera was, in essence, on deck, the Mariners saw Dustin Ackley single, take second on Justin Smoak’s second walk of the night. As Miguel Olivo struck out, Ackley and Smoak – yes, Smoak – pulled a double steal.
New York manager Joe Girardi ordered veteran Adam Kennedy intentionally walked to load them up for Casper Wells. When he did, Wedge sent switch-hitting rookie Trayvon Robinson up to swing for Wells.
Reliever David Robertson struck out Robinson.
Give the Mariners this. They lost but were not out-pitched.
Rookie Charlie Furbush fared better than teammate Felix Hernandez, who’d given up six runs in six innings on Monday. Furbush worked 5 innings against the Yankees and allowed three runs.
Like Felix before him, Furbush lost.
This time, however, it wasn’t because pitching put Seattle in a hole. A night after losing, 9-3, the Mariners offense went into its failure-to-make-contact mode again.
In a four-game series against Kansas City, Seattle batters struck out 51 times – striking out at least 11 times in each game. Against A.J. Burnett and the New York bullpen Tuesday, the Mariners were at it again.
Even before the ninth inning and Rivera, the Mariners had struck out 15 times. Rivera got two more.
In a game of 27 outs, nearly two-thirds of the time Seattle didn’t make contact Tuesday, and in a stretch of six games, they’ve whiffed 74 times.
Early in the season, Wedge thought his team was too passive at the plate.
Not now. In Game 148, the Mainers struck out at least once in every inning – and twice in seven innings. That is serious whiffing.
“We’re being aggressive at the plate, too much so right now,” Wedge said. “We’re getting some called third strikes, some swing-throughs. We’ve got kids trying to do too much.
“We had pitches to hit and missed them. The last week or so, we’re just not making enough contact.”
The Mariners are missing at an epic pace. With 13 games left to the season, they have struck out 1,155 times in 2011 – 29 short of the all-time franchise worst.
That record has stood the test of time since ... 2010.
Seattle did manage six hits Tuesday, with each going to a different hitter. The Mariners managed to put men in scoring position, and went 1-for-10 in those situations.
Olivo got one run home on a sacrifice fly, shortstop Brendan Ryan knocked in another with a two-out RBI single. Ryan, however, had to leave the game in the fifth inning after his back stiffened up, and he’s listed as day-to-day in availability.
The Mariners bullpen, which worked the last 32/3 innings, allowed the Yankees two hits as Shawn Kelley, Tom Wilhelmsen and Brandon League kept New York off the scoreboard.
At that, they will be a distant second in the bullpen headlines of the day today. Rivera, whose 1,037th career appearance was special. It came in his 41st year, and was Rivera’s 41st save of the season.
larry.larue@thenewwstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners
TODAY
New York Yankees (Ivan Nova: 15-4, 3.94 ERA) at Seattle (Jason Vargas: 8-13, 4.49), 7:10 p.m., Root Sports, 710-AM
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