Seattle bullpen implodes in loss to Baltimore

SEATTLE – Regardless the hope that Erik Bedard brought in his return to the mound Tuesday night, there was a good chance the Seattle Mariners’ bullpen would determine the game against the Baltimore Orioles.

It did, and for the second straight time the relief wasn’t pretty in a 12-4 loss at Safeco Field. The Orioles scored four runs in the sixth inning and six in the seventh.

“We had a good ballgame going and then the wheels fell off,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “In two innings, the game basically was out of control. Until then, we had a pretty good game going.”

Bedard did his part, even though he was shaky early and allowed two first-inning runs. He retired the final 10 hitters he faced and the only thing that got to him was his pitch count. Limited to no more than 80 after 29 days on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, he was finished after throwing 72 pitches through four innings.

“He had good stuff,” Wakamatsu said. “But he threw a lot of pitches that first inning and that kept him to four innings. I thought he had better command in his (simulated) game the other day, but he threw some awfully good breaking balls tonight and there were some good signs.”

Besides, when Bedard left the game, the Mariners led 3-2 on Franklin Gutierrez’s three-run homer in the first inning.

Then, before anyone could say Jarrod Washburn Gem, the game was gone. The bullpen brought back a memory much different than Washburn’s one-hitter Monday night. This one rekindled the ill spirit of Sunday’s game at Boston, the last time Wakamatsu used his bullpen. It failed in an 8-4 loss.

The culprits this time were Chris Jakubauskas, Shawn Kelley and Roy Corcoran.

Jakubauskas followed Bedard and pitched around a leadoff single in the fifth, but couldn’t get more the one out in the sixth before the Orioles popped him with three hits, an intentional walk and four runs for a 6-3 lead.

Kelley, in his second outing since nearly two months on the disabled list, gave up a single and an inning-ending double play to get out of the sixth but was stung hard in the seventh. The Orioles got him for three hits, two walks and five runs. One of those scored when Luke Scott hit a two-run homer off the Mariners’ next reliever, Corcoran.

The reliever of the night was Orioles left-hander Mark Hendrickson, the former Washington State star.

He took over for struggling starter Jeremy Guthrie with one out in the third inning and shut down the Mariners through the fifth.

Ken Griffey Jr. beat the Orioles’ shift in the eighth inning by grounding a ball into left field and turning it into a double. It was his 514th career double to tie ex-Mariner Edgar Martinez for 39th place on baseball’s all-time doubles list.

Orioles 12, Mariners 4

E—F.Gutierrez (3). LOB—Baltimore 2, Seattle 8. 2B—Wigginton (10), Jo.Lopez (16), Griffey Jr. (11), Cedeno (2). 3B—Scott (1). HR—Scott (17), off Corcoran; F.Gutierrez (9), off Guthrie. RBIs—Wigginton (23), Reimold 3 (23), Scott 7 (50), Mora (23), I.Suzuki (22), F.Gutierrez 3 (32). SF—I.Suzuki. RLISP—Baltimore 2 (Mora 2); Seattle 4 (Langerhans 2, Ro.Johnson, Jo.Lopez). Runners moved up—Wigginton, Jo.Lopez 2. GIDP—Ad.Jones, Wieters, Andino, Ro.Johnson. DP—Baltimore 1 (Mora, Wigginton, A.Huff); Seattle 3 (Woodward, Jo.Lopez, Branyan), (Jo.Lopez, Cedeno, Branyan), (Jo.Lopez, Cedeno, Branyan).

IR-S—Hendrickson 2-0, Kelley 1-1, Corcoran 2-2. IBB—off Hendrickson (F.Gutierrez), off Kelley (A.Huff), off Jakubauskas (A.Huff). HBP—by Bedard (Markakis). T—3:01. A—19,340 (47,878).