Rookies deliver for Mariners in 8th
One night after snapping their own losing streak, the Seattle Mariners declined to let the Kansas City Royals do the same. And with the Royals passing out free scoring opportunities all night, the Mariners broke a tie in the eighth inning when rookies Jeremy Reed, Mike Morse and Yuniesky Betancourt delivered the plays for a 4-3 victory.
For the Mariners, that’s two in a row. For the Royals, it’s a franchise record 17 consecutive losses. And both teams earned it.
Joel Pineiro was behind 2-0 before he’d thrown 20 pitches, but the Royals turned what could have been a marvelous defensive inning into a tie game.
Twice in the bottom of the first inning, Mariners scored on close plays at the plate.
On both, Kansas City catcher John Buck bobbled or dropped a strong throw from the outfield.
The Royals clawed back with a third run in the second inning on a single, double and sacrifice fly – but then their offense shut down. It might well have been the pitching of Pineiro, who was marvelous his last six innings.
And it might have been the Royals simply not hitting again.
Whatever the reason, the Mariners weren’t about to quibble. Against a team that’s got a league-worst 38 wins, Seattle is now 6-2. Against everyone else on the schedule, the Mariners are 45-65.
“I give credit to Pineiro, who shut us down,” said Bob Shaefer, filling in for absent manager Buddy Bell. “A win for us was reachable tonight, but we just couldn’t get it. When it’s going bad, the little things hurt you.”
The little things did.
Tied into the eighth inning, the Mariners had the back end of their lineup at the plate with two outs – and won, with only one ball hit out of the infield. And it was the kids who got it done.
Reed singled, his third hit of the night, and was pushed to second base when Morse patiently worked a walk from reliever Jeremy Affeldt.
“(Coach) Ron Hassey told me on the bench if I got the chance to take a big lead out there,” Reed said. “I think (Affeldt) kind of stopped looking at me, and the infielders sort of forgot about me – so I went.”
Reed stole third base without a throw, his second steal of the night and just his sixth of the season.
“A lot of people poo-poo stealing third with two outs when you’re already in scoring position,” manager Mike Hargrove said, “but it opens up different opportunities. We took advantage of one of those tonight and won a game.”
What opportunity?
With Reed on third instead of second, Betancourt’s infield single to shortstop – on which he just beat the throw of Angel Berroa – drove home Seattle’s fourth run.
“Tonight is just a sigh of relief for me, because I’ve worked really hard to get my game better,” Reed said. “I felt great (Monday) and went 0 for 4. Tonight, I get three hits and two stolen bases.
“Any stolen base is huge for me. I’ve been caught too many times this year, and there have probably been more downs than ups in my first full season. But I’m still working at it.”
So is Pineiro, whose 22nd start of the season produced his third consecutive solid performance, second win in that stretch and fifth of the year.
“I think Joel was frustrated the first two innings because he couldn’t find command of his fastball,” pitching coach Bryan Price said.
“(Catcher) Yorvit Torrealba started going with soft stuff in the third inning, and when Joel threw that for strikes it gave him time to find his fastball.”