The Mariners got there Tuesday. And they lost anyway.
Rallying on a two-run home run against Josh Lueke, then an immaculate bottom of the ninth inning, the Texas Rangers coolly came back to beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-6, on Josh Hamilton’s soft run-scoring single.
How good were the Rangers? Tied entering the ninth inning, they didn’t hit a ball hard and won without making an out.
It went like this:
Jeff Gray, who had allowed the tying run to score in the eighth inning, walked Ian Kinsler.
“Three of the last four runs they scored were guys we walked,” growled manager Eric Wedge. “You can’t do that. You can’t put runners on against good hitters and get away with it.”
Aaron Laffey relieved Gray, and former Mariner Endy Chavez dropped a bunt hoping to move Kinsler into scoring position. He did – with a bunt base hit.
“The ball was rolling foul, hit something and went back fair,” catcher Miguel Olivo said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
That brought up Hamilton, the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player.
“I wanted a ground ball, a double play if I could get one, so I threw him a good sinker, down and in,” Laffey said.
Hamilton got enough of the pitch to float it softly into shallow left-center field, driving in the winning run.
“I made a good pitch, the pitch I thought would get an out,” Laffey said, shaking his head. “Will that help me sleep tonight? No. Any time you’re the last pitcher out there and lose, you don’t take it well.”
The loss came despite another fine start from rookie Michael Pineda, who hadn’t pitched since July 30 as the Mariners try to limit his work. In 105-degree weather, Pineda came out too strong – and the Rangers took advantage to score twice in the first inning, once more in the second.
All that did was tie the game.
The Mariners were scoring bunches early, using RBI from Mike Carp and Adam Kennedy to make it 2-0 in the first, and another run on a double play in the second to go ahead, 3-2.
“I felt strong, and it was hot – I like hot,” Pineda said. “Miguel told me I was being too quick, to stay back and focus on every pitch. I did.”
After the second inning, the Rangers did nothing against Pineda, who at one point retired 11 in a row and 13 of 14. That got him and his team through six.
When veteran Kennedy tripled home two more runs, then scored on Olivo’s sacrifice fly, Seattle was up three runs when Pineda left.
The first reliever in, rookie Lueke, walked the No. 8 hitter in the Texas lineup, got an out, then left a pitch centered for Kinsler – who hammered it out.
Seattle 6, Texas 5.
Gray got the Mariners into the eighth inning, where they had a point-blank opportunity to push the lead.
Olivo singled, his second hit, and stole second base with no one out.
“A two-run lead makes it a different game there,” Wedge said. “You have to make it happen.”
Instead, Franklin Gutierrez and rookies Trayvon Robinson and Kyle Seager all struck out.
“I had one pitch that at-bat, a 2-1 fastball away, I should have driven somewhere,” Robinson said. “This is like when I jumped from AA to AAA, a different level. I had to learn, and I did. I’m learning here, too.”
Up by one, the Mariners lost even that edge in the eighth on a one-out walk and two-out double against Gray.
The Mainers went down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning and, with the temperature having plummeted to 97 degrees, few in the ballpark thought the Rangers would need a 10th inning.
They didn’t.
The Mariners had all the makings of a win, and lost. They had 11 hits to the Rangers’ nine, with shortstop Jack Wilson, Kennedy, Olivo and Gutierrez each getting two.
They left seven men on base, and went 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
“Against the Rangers, you have to keep tacking runs on, and after the third inning we didn’t,” Wilson said. “We had a couple of chances.”
Still, after six innings, Seattle had a 6-3 lead, looking for its 50th win of the season.
Someone asked Wedge the simplest question: In that situation, does a team have to win?
“Yes,” he said.
larry.larue@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/mariners
Today
Seattle (Jason Vargas: 6-10, 4.02 ERA) at Texas (Derek Holland: 10-4, 4.35), 5:05 p.m., Root Sports, 1240-AM, 1030-AM
