MARINERS: Mariners rally past Blue Jays

LARRY LARUE

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SEATTLE — Jose Castro, the third Seattle batting coach of the year and a man who’s been with the Mariners less than two weeks, can be forgiven for wondering if big-league hitters are a different species. Take Adrian Beltre.

He hit a home run in San Diego on Sunday while on one knee, then hit another at Safeco Field on Tuesday night on a pitch that was neck high and away.

Then there was Richie Sexson, looking terrible in his first two at-bats, looking hapless on two eighth-inning pitches and lining the next strike he saw for his first home run since May 24.

Yes, Jose. Big-league hitters may just be a different species.

Tied after eight innings, the Mariners got a walk-off single from Willie Bloomquist in the ninth to beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6, on a night when the Seattle bullpen was asked for and delivered all 27 outs.

“Beltre, Sexson, Bloomquist the guys just never stopped competing,” said Jim Riggleman, whose record as the Seattle manager is 7-4.

Is this suddenly a different team?

“Win some games, and it’s the chicken-and-the-egg theory,” Riggleman said. “Are the wins coming because they’re spirited or are they spirited because they’re winning? Either way, we’ll take them.”

It was a game the Mariners trailed most of the night, with a Safeco Field crowd of 24,586 showing divided loyalties between the two teams.

Toronto put together leads of 3-0, then 6-2, but couldn’t hold off Seattle late.

No sooner had Riggleman tried to send positive pregame vibes out by praising his team’s infield defense, than he watched helplessly when Jose Lopez let a double-play grounder go through his legs.

That misplay led to a threerun inning that put Seattle down by four runs in the sixth.

Given the fact that the Mariners didn’t have a true starting pitcher and would

wind up using six relievers to get through nine innings, that four-run lead looked like a lock until Beltre and Sexson delivered.

The Mariners were without a starting pitcher after Felix Hernandez was placed on the disabled list and Miguel Batista it’s his foot, his groin, his back! simply wasn’t able to pitch.

So Riggleman went to his bullpen for nine innings, giving left-hander Ryan Rowland- Smith his first major league start and asking the 25-year-old Australian to go as deep into the game as he could.

For three innings, Rowland-Smith spun gold, retiring nine of the first 10 batters while using only 35 pitches. In the fourth inning, it went south fast the first four Blue Jays to bat reached base on a single, a walk, a double and a hit batter.

That put Toronto up 1-0 and left the bases loaded with no one out. By the time Rowland-Smith and Roy Corcoran got three outs between them, the Blue Jays were up, 3-0.

Seattle was able to come back, however, on home runs by Beltre and Sexson.