M’s flex their arms

SEATTLE – It took all George Sherill had to end the second win of the season for the Seattle Mariners – every pitch, every bit of tenacity.

When that proved just enough to hold off the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Wednesday, 6-4, Sherrill was rewarded with the first major league save of his career.

Then all he wanted was a souvenir – the baseball from the final out, which came with two Angels on base and Sherrill just about out of time. Problem was, that baseball had landed in the mitt of shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

On the way off the field, happy with the victory that let Seattle take two of their first three games, Betancourt flipped the ball into the stands.

“I’ll get another roughed up baseball and just pretend,” Sherrill said. “And from now on, I’m leaving the ninth inning to the big guy.”

The Mariners didn’t have their ‘big guy’ – closer Eddie Guardado – nor did they have setup men J.J. Putz or Rafael Soriano available.

So before the game, manager Mike Hargrove told the men he had to count on just how much he had to count on them.

Making his first career start in a uniform other than the Angels, Jarrod Washburn didn’t even try to pretend this was just another start.

He wanted to impress his new teammates, the fans at Safeco Field and get deep enough into the game to save what there was of his bullpen.

Mission accomplished.

Washburn needed 100 pitches to get through seven innings, and the last two outs he got were recorded on fumes.

“I approached this one like a playoff game, and I knew it was going to be more emotional for me than most games,” he said. “It’s a game I’ll remember, and I’d have remembered it no matter who it was against.

“I’m on a new team, and the fact that it was against my old team, that made it a little more special.”

Washburn blazed through the first four innings, battled through the last three and left ahead, 4-2.

If there’s been a pattern established in the first three games of the year, it’s that the Mariners make the last few innings interesting. In the eighth and ninth innings, they’ve now allowed seven runs.

That trend continued Wednesday, when Julio Mateo made his first appearance and with his sixth pitch gave up a two-run home run that made the score 5-4 – erasing any cushion the Mariners hoped to take to the ninth inning.

“A one-run lead in the ninth inning? That’s one swing of the bat,” Hargrove said.

With the Mariners batting in the eighth, Hargrove called the bullpen and told coach Jim Slaton to get up one pitcher – Sherrill.

Then Seattle’s offense gave him an insurance run. It didn’t come easily.

Catcher Kenji Johjima walked with one out and Jeremy Reed dropped a bunt single. Betancourt moved the runners up a base with a slow ground ball, and the Angels intentionally walked Ichiro Suzuki.

Reliever Brendan Donnelly then wild-pitched a run home, and for the first time in Seattle, it was Sherrill Time.

“I kept telling myself, ‘Calm down. Get ahead of the hitters. Do the job,’ ” Sherrill said.

A 28-year-old left-hander who was pitching in the Independent League 2 1/2 years ago, Sherrill got the first man he faced, walked the second. He got the third batter he faced, then gave up a single to catcher Jeff Mathis.

That brought up Chone Figgins.

“He’s a good hitter, and this whole series was one team trying to come back on the other,” Sherrill said. “He fouled off some good pitches, and I thought he was looking ‘away,’ so I got in on him just enough and he popped it up.”

Notch career save No. 1.

“I don’t know how Eddie does it every night,” Sherrill said.

What the Mariners put on display for a crowd of 21,344 was their revamped – some would say reformed – offense. After three games, it’s been fun to watch, if nothing else.

“A year ago, we hit a home run or we didn’t score,” Richie Sexson said. “We’re putting more things together this season. We’re running the bases aggressively. We’re moving runners over, getting them in. And that’s how we have to play.”

Through three games, Sexson has one home run – but seven RBIs. He got two more in the first with a one-out double that pushed home Ichiro and Jose Lopez. Lopez, who had three hits, singled home a third run in the second inning, then collected his first major league triple leading off the fifth.

“I hit the ball and knew it was two bases,” Lopez said, “but when I got to second base (third base coach) Carlos Garcia was still waving me. So I kept going.”

Did his first three-base hit exhaust him? Lopez looked offended at the question. “No,” he said.

Then there was Raul Ibanez, who had a great spring and has started the season batting .400. He went 2 for 4 in this one – but each of his singles came with a Mariner in scoring position, and his two RBIs made the difference.

Mariners 6, Angels 4

a-walked for Alfonzo in the 9th. E—Mathis (1). LOB—Los Angeles 6, Seattle 8. 2B—Salmon (1), ISuzuki (1), Sexson (1). 3B—JoLopez (1). HR—OCabrera (1), off JMateo; Salmon (2), off Washburn. RBIs—OCabrera 2 (4), Salmon (2), Erstad (1), JoLopez (4), Ibanez 2 (2), Sexson 2 (7). SB—Beltre (2). CS—Erstad (1), Casanova (1). Runners left in scoring position—Los Angeles 2 (Figgins, Kotchman); Seattle 6 (JoLopez 2, Beltre, CEverett, Johjima 2). Runners moved up—Erstad, JoLopez, Sexson, YBetancourt 2. DP—Seattle 1 (Johjima and Beltre).

Inherited runners-scored—Donnelly 1-1. IBB—off Donnelly (ISuzuki) 1. HBP—by JMateo (VGuerrero), by Weaver (Sexson). WP—Weaver, Donnelly. T—2:42. A—21,394 (47,447).