Ibanez wins it
Home run in ninth downs A.L. East leaders
SEATTLE – Raul Ibanez lined a pitch from Dan Wheeler inside the right-field foul pole, Seattle’s first game-ending home run in its lost season, and the Mariners beat the A.L. East-leading Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Thursday night.
Ibanez’s fourth career walkoff home run prompted a wild, on-field celebration by the team with the A.L.’s worst record. On-deck batter Adrian Beltre threw his batting helmet into the air the moment the ball left the bat of Ibanez, who has 16 RBIs in his last five games.
Tampa Bay began a season-long, 10-game road trip by losing for just the second time in nine games, trimming its division lead to 2 1/2 games over idle Boston and 5 1/2 over the New York Yankees.
The Rays dropped to 23-29 on the road, where 29 of their final 48 games will be played. Tampa Bay is 45-17 at home. That’s the largest differential between home and road success in the major leagues.
J.J. Putz (5-4) escaped trouble in the ninth and Felix Hernandez allowed just four hits and one run in eight innings for Seattle, which won for just the fourth time in 57 games when trailing after seven innings.
Wheeler (2-5) and the bullpen couldn’t help the Rays after a strong performance by Andy Sonnanstine, who went to a three-ball count just once over the first six innings.
Wladimir Balentien doubled and fellow rookie Bryan LaHair singled off Sonnanstine to begin the eighth. No. 9 hitter Yuniesky Betancourt then tied the game on a sacrifice fly that scored Balentien.
The only run of the first 7 1/2 innings came when Hernandez allowed a walk to Carl Crawford and a single to Longoria leading off. Crawford reached third on a fielder’s choice. Then with the count 2-2 on Floyd, Hernandez appeared to confuse catcher Jeff Clement, who was late to move his mitt to catch a low pitch. It clanged off Clement’s lower leg to the backstop as Crawford ran home easily on what was scored a wild pitch.
Batista back out of rotation
The Mariners are taking struggling RHP Miguel Batista (4-11, 6.80 ERA) out of the rotation again. Manager Jim Riggleman did not announce who would start Saturday’s game, only that it will be a minor league call-up. That likely means LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith, sent down to Triple-A Tacoma last month to convert to starting.