It’s just possible this particular collection of Seattle Mariners has hit their ceiling, maxed out at 83 wins, gone about as far as what they have will take them.

Asked to hold a one-run lead the final three innings against the Texas Rangers, the Mariners’ bullpen couldn’t, losing the lead in the eighth inning and the game in the ninth, 7-4, on Friday night.

They went out with their best. In their 160th game of the season, that wasn’t enough.

“Our bullpen is showing the wear and tear,” manager Don Wakamatsu said.

Mark Lowe’s 75th appearance of the season turned sour when he gave up a two-out RBI single that tied the game. David Aardsma’s 72nd appearance went even worse as he allowed three ninth-inning runs that made the Rangers winners for the 87th time this year.

That win pushed Texas out of range for Seattle, which needed a sweep of this final three-game series to forge a second-place tie in the American League West. The man who started the first game of that series was Ian Snell.

“I couldn’t throw any of my pitches for a strike, and when I did get something over the plate, they hit it,” Snell said. “I just didn’t feel good. In a season, some nights are going to be like that.”

Seattle played this one as it has so many in 2009, falling behind, catching up, taking a lead – a one-run lead – and handing that over to the bullpen. Their deadliest combination was Lowe in the eighth, Aardsma in the ninth.

All the runs both men allowed came with two outs, and Wakamatsu took note.

“We had the chance to really break it open late with some two-out hitting and couldn’t get it done,” he said. “They did, and that was the difference. The timing of their hitting was good. Ours wasn’t.”

Against Snell, hitting was constant – a barrage of Texas offense that had him in trouble throughout. Snell’s 12th start as a Mariner was fairly typical. When he was bad, he was bite-your-fist bad – walking hitters, throwing too many pitches, finding the heart of the plate.

And when he was good, he got into and out of trouble. That was key, because he was almost always in trouble.

“I thought he pitched a little tentative, but to give him credit, he came back and pitched three scoreless innings, gave us six innings and left with us in position to win,” Wakamatsu said.

Snell’s one-out walk in the second inning jump-started a two-run Texas rally. When he walked David Murphy to start the third inning, that walk turned into another Rangers run and a 3-0 lead.

Overall, Snell allowed nine hits and three walks in six innings – putting 12 men on base. That’s not the ideal innings-to-baserunner ratio, but Snell forced the Rangers to strand nine of those runners.

Tenacity is as valuable a tool for Snell as velocity.

“This offseason I’m going to work on going right after the hitters, focus on that and stop doing the stupid little things like walking guys or trying to be too fine with my pitches,” Snell said. “I want to come back stronger, more mentally prepared than I was this season.”

When the Mariners rallied behind the 27-year-old right-hander, as they have in most of his starts, they tied the game in one inning.

Franklin Gutierrez doubled to left field, just beating the throw at second with a hard slide. Jose Lopez legged out an infield single, with Gutierrez forced to hold at second.

Adrian Beltre, in what is likely his final series as a Mariner, singled up the middle for one run and, after a Brandon McCarthy wild pitch, rookie Mike Carp singled home two runs for the tie.

It didn’t stay tied long. Snell got through the top of the fifth and, in the Mariners half, Seattle used a two-out single from Jose Lopez to go ahead, 4-3 – the 94th RBI of the year for the second baseman.

“Carp and Lopez gave us great at-bats in those situations,” Wakamatsu said.

All the Mariners had to do when Snell departed after 100 pitches was hold a one-run lead over the Rangers for the final three innings.

The bullpen came at Texas in waves.

Miguel Batista got two outs in the seventh, lefty Garrett Olson got the third with a man on second base.

In the eighth, Lowe came in for his 75th appearance of the season – that’s the third highest total in the league. Andruw Jones greeted him by doubling to right-center field on a 98 mph fastball.

From there, Lowe struck out Taylor Teagarten, issued a walk and got a fly ball out from Julio Borbon.

With two outs and the tying run at second base ...Michael Young singled and Jones just did beat a strong throw to the plate from Ichiro. Tied again, Wakamatsu went to lefty Jason Vargas, who got out of the eighth throwing three pitches.

“We got two nice lefty-on-lefty matchups for Olson and Vargas and they got the jobs done, and that’s what we’re looking for these final games,” Wakamatus said. “You look for positives even in tough games like this one.”

larry.larue@thenewstribune.com

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