Sports

POSTED: Wednesday, Jul. 23, 2008

MARINERS: Seattle swept by Boston after extra-inning defeat

At first glance, Willie Bloomquist’s dropped fly ball in the top of the 12th inning could be seen as the most obvious reason for the Seattle Mariners’ 6-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, July 23 at Safeco Field.

Bloomquist tried to shoulder the blame for misplaying Kevin Youkilis’ long fly ball to the gap in right-center field, fueling the winning three-run rally for the Red Sox.

“I just flat out missed it,” he said when asked if it was a long way to run. “I can’t sit here and make an excuse. It’s a ball I should have caught.”

So the sun wasn’t a factor?

“No, no excuses,” he said. “I should have had it, and I am disappointed that I didn’t make the play.”

Instead, Youkilis was safe at first, J.D. Drew advanced to second and Jacoby Ellsbury, who singled off Sean Green to lead off the 12th, stood at third with one out.

Mike Lowell, as he always seems to do, came up clutch in the bases-loaded situation, singling home two runs. Sean Casey added another RBI single to turn a 3-3 game into a 6-3 game.

“I hold myself accountable,” Bloomquist said. “I should have caught it, I didn’t and it cost us.”

Fellow outfielder Raul Ibañez tried to lighten the burden some.

“The next hitter got a base hit anyway,” he reasoned. “It would have been a two-out hit and they would have scored.”

Indeed, but the Red Sox might have scored only one run, not three — not that the Mariners would have been able to overcome even that deficit on this day.

After all, Seattle couldn’t score during the previous five innings, when a single run would have won the game – and spared Bloomquist’s his 12th-inning bumble.

In the end, that lack of offense might have been the biggest factor in the Mariners’ fifth straight loss.

“That’s baseball,” Jose Vidro said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get just that one out when you need it, and sometimes it’s impossible to get just one run. That’s why it’s a great sport.”

It was Vidro who gave the Mariners a chance to snap their losing streak. His two-run homer off Clay Buchholz in the bottom of the sixth tied the game at 3-3.

After scoring just two runs in the previous 21 innings, it seemed like perhaps the punchless Mariners would finally put up at least a flailing jab.

“After that home run, it felt like we were going to score another run or two,” said Ibañez, who provided Seattle’s other run with a solo blast in the fourth. “But it didn’t work out that way.”

Instead, Buchholz exited and the Boston bullpen shut down the Mariners over the next six innings.

Seattle managed only one more baserunner before heading into extra innings. The Mariners’ best scoring opportunity came in the 11th when Vidro led off with a fluky infield single that Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon tripped over when trying to field. Following a strikeout by Adrian Beltre, Yuniesky Betancourt singled to right, putting Mariners runners at first and third with one out.

After a brief conference on the mound involving Red Sox manager Terry Francona, Papelbon and the Sox infield, Kenji Johjima grounded into an inning-ending and rally-killing 5-4-3 double play.

“We had chances to win the ball game, obviously,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “We had a couple of good at-bats to be in position to win the game (in the 11th) and didn’t do it.”

That was pretty much the case for the entire homestand. When the Mariners did get runners on base, they left them stranded.

“It’s not from lack of effort,” Bloomquist said. “We’ve been getting guys on base, but we’re having trouble getting the big hit when we need it.”

The Mariners rank last in the American League with runners in scoring position, hitting just .231 in those situations. They were 0-for-7 on Wednesday.

With Boston leading 6-3, reliever Craig Hansen opened the door for a possible Mariners rally in the bottom of the 12th.

Singles by Bloomquist and Jose Lopez and a walk to Ibañez loaded the bases with two outs. But Hansen got Vidro to ground out to second to end the game.

“That was a painful loss right there, and we’ve had a lot of those in the past two weeks,” Riggleman said. “We played this Boston club real tough for three days and come away with nothing. I’m not sure what the right word is, but I know our players are aching over it.”

Sean Green (2-3) took the loss for Seattle, while Papelbon (4-3) got the win and Hansen the save.