Pineiro on target and in control as Mariners cruise past Angels
SEATTLE – The fastball went exactly where Joel Pineiro aimed. The curveball had such 12-to-6 bite he could set his watch to it.
He couldn’t miss with his slider and changeup, and the Anaheim Angels’ empty at-bats all day told how effective Pineiro really was.
On the way to a 6-2 Seattle Mariners victory over the Angels on Sunday, it seemed nothing could mess up Pineiro’s day.
Then he threw a changeup to his last hitter in the eighth inning, and the Mariners had something to worry about with their right-handed pitcher.
Pineiro felt a pain in his right elbow and, after he got the final out of the eighth, he doubled over and flung his arm a few times to shake off the discomfort.
Pineiro called it a cramp and, after icing it, didn’t seem worried.
The Mariners weren’t sure what to think.
“You hate to throw up a red flag and say this is a huge event,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “It could be a very common event. I don’t think anyone wants to draw a huge amount of attention to it because we don’t know yet.”
Pineiro said he wasn’t concerned _ “It’s not like I felt a pop or anything,” he said – although Price wasn’t feeling so at ease.
“It could be a little tweak, you never know,” Price said. “But any time somebody says their arm is sore, you’re going to be concerned about it.”
Pineiro, despite a difficult season that has resulted in a 6-11 record, is considered the Mariners’ ace of the future. He pitched like it Sunday, holding the Angels to five hits and only Jose Guillen’s solo home run in the fourth inning.
He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter.
“That’s probably the best I’ve seen him all year,” said Dave Hansen, whose two-run homer in the second inning gave the Mariners a lead they held the rest of the game. “His curveball was an equalizer, and he was hitting his spots with his fastball.”
It was a major change from Pineiro’s previous start, when the Boston Red Sox scored eight runs off him in the fourth inning last Tuesday.
The difference was a minor adjustment Pineiro made in his windup, after he’d noticed on video of the Red Sox game that his push-off foot was several inches in front of the rubber when he drove toward the plate in his pitching motion.
“One little step like that can take you out of your balance and you aren’t able to spot your pitches,” Pineiro said. After discovering the flaw, he made an adjustment in his next bullpen session and immediately saw improvement.
“Everything in the bullpen was like, ‘There you go. That’s the Joel I know,’” he said.
Through 3 2/3 innings Sunday, Pineiro allowed only Robb Quinlan’s two-out single in the second inning. He had a strike on Guillen with two outs in the fourth when he missed his spot with a fastball, and Guillen hit it over the center field fence.
The next time Guillen came to bat, with two outs and a runner on first base in the sixth, Pineiro threw a curveball that struck out Guillen and preserved a 2-1 Mariners lead.
Pineiro retired the Angels in order in the seventh, got a big insurance run in the bottom of the inning when Bucky Jacobsen homered for a 3-1 lead, then was saved by his defense in the eighth.
Jose Molina led off with a double and reached third on Adam Kennedy’s ground out. David Eckstein hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Scott Spiezio, who made a diving stop, then quickly got to his feet and trapped Molina in a rundown before tagging him out. With a runner on first and two outs, Chone Figgins hit a liner toward the right-field corner that Hansen snagged with a dive for the third out.
The Mariners scored three more runs in the eighth _ aided by Miguel Olivo’s leadoff triple, Ichiro Suzuki’s RBI single and a major league record-tying four wild pitches by Angels reliever Kevin Gregg.
By then, Pineiro was in the training room with his aching elbow encased in ice.
“He just iced and we’ll check him tomorrow,” trainer Rick Griffin said. “Hopefully he’ll be good.”
Asked if he’s concerned, Griffin gave no hint.
“Hopefully he’ll be good,” the trainer said again.