Mariners bungle way to loss
SEATTLE – Don’t ask Bret Boone about his night.
A look at the box score, or the plays that made all the difference in the Seattle Mariners’ 6-1 loss Thursday to the Anaheim Angels, or Boone’s expression of disbelief, said enough.
On a night when Jamie Moyer pitched well enough to win his first game since June 18, Boone’s two errors in the eighth inning helped the Angels break open a close game, when they scored four unearned runs.
He made a throw to home plate that hit the bat and bounced away to allow two runs, let a double-play grounder zip untouched between his legs and didn’t field a throw from the catcher on a stolen base attempt.
All in the eighth inning, when the Angels turned a one-run lead into an easy victory.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a defensive inning like that in my career,” Boone said. “I have no words for it. Things like this happen this year.”
The defensive problems aside, the real culprit Thursday was the Mariners’ offense, which scored just once against wobbling Angels starter Aaron Sele.
The Mariners had baserunners in every inning against Sele but scored only in the second when Dan Wilson drove home Boone with a single.
The Angels pitched carefully to Ichiro Suzuki, holding him to a 0-for-2 night after walking him three times. Two of the walks were intentional when the Angels put him on with first base open and runners in scoring position.
Manager Bob Melvin didn’t fault their strategy.
He understands that Anaheim is a team fighting for the division lead. The Angels, who split the four-game series in Seattle, remained two games behind first-place Oakland in the American League West.
Ichiro remained on 233 hits this season, 25 behind the major league single-season record set in 1920 by George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns.
The Angels led 2-1 in the eighth and had Adam Kennedy on third with one out when Darin Erstad hit a sharp grounder to Boone, who was playing on the edge of the infield grass. He fielded it cleanly and made a low, but catchable, throw home to Wilson. But the throw hit a bat in front of Wilson.
The next hitter, Garret Anderson, hit a double-play grounder that went through Boone’s legs.
Then, as pinch-runner Dallas McPherson attempted to steal second, Wilson made a low throw that skipped past Boone and into center field. The error was charged to Wilson.
•The Mariners activated right-handed reliever Julio Mateo from the disabled list. Mateo went on the DL on July 29 with tendinitis in his right elbow.