Twins end Seattle's winning streak at 3

Rookie burns M's with his glove, bat

By Ryan Divish | The News Tribune • Published August 07, 2008

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SEATTLE - For the time it took the ball to leave Adrian Beltre’s bat and travel some 340 feet, it looked as though the Seattle Mariners would cheat defeat with yet another come-from-behind win - their third in as many days.

But just as the ball was about to clear the right-field wall and send a crowd of 30,441 into frenzy, Minnesota’s Denard Span stole the momentum, the Mariners’ comeback hopes, their season-high three-game winning streak and a sure home run out of the air, making a brilliant leaping catch in the bottom of the seventh.

The catch preserved a one-run lead in what would eventually be a 7-3 win for the Twins on Wednesday at a warm Safeco Field.

“I really allowed myself to think that one was gone,” Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said. “I didn’t think it had any chance of staying in the ballpark.”

Riggleman wasn’t alone in his assessment of Beltre’s seventh inning shot with the Mariners down 4-3.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” said catcher Jeff Clement when asked if he thought it was gone off the bat. “That’s one of those plays where I just stood there and stared out there. I went and watched it on the video highlight again.”

Span, a rookie, is a fantastic athlete who has made that type of highlight catches already this season.

And it’s a play Beltre has seemingly seen a lot of this season.

“He’s hit more balls off the bat that you think are going to get out and not get caught and then end up being caught,” Riggleman said. “This ballpark can take some home runs away from you, and it seems like Belly has been the victim more than anybody.”

That catch changed the complexion of the game. A homer would have given the Mariners at least a 5-4 lead going into the eighth. Riggleman said his strategy for pitching the final two innings would have changed.

Instead Seattle was down 4-3, and Riggleman left Mark Lowe in for a second inning after he relieved starter Jarrod Washburn in the seventh.

As he did in the seventh, Lowe gave up a leadoff single in the eighth, only this time, he couldn’t get a double play to bail him out.