BASEBALL: Mariners lose in 10th

“I read it, I have to catch it,” Ichiro said. “It hit the top of my glove.”

In a game where the Mariners couldn’t hold leads in the eighth or 10th innings, used every relief pitcher available, then manufactured a run in their half of the 10th, the play in right field was the final difference between a win and a loss.

“It was a line drive with overspin, just a tough, tough play,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “He got there and jumped, he just didn’t catch it.”

Joe Inglett’s shot was a tough play, but one Ichiro insisted he has made before.

It was an inning — and a game — that should never have gotten to that play. Lowe was charged with a throwing error, then got two outs before loading the bases with Jays.

If he doesn’t make the error, the inning would have been over.

Similarly, if J.J. Putz protects a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning, the Mariners likely win.

Or if the Seattle offense, which took a 3-1 lead in the third inning, had managed to add on.

“That’s just the way the season has gone,” Lowe said.

From the outset, it was tough to determine whether the Mariners were happier to be facing journeyman John Parrish than he was to see them. Both sentiments were understandable.

A journeyman left-hander, Parrish spent time with Seattle and Tacoma last season and wasn’t successful in either city. And if you’re a pitcher fighting for his job this month, what team in the American League would you like to face?

That particular showdown was something of a wash — the Mariners couldn’t knock Parrish out of the game, but he threw so many pitches that after five innings he had to leave, trailing 3-2.

Slumping catcher Kenji Johjima doubled home Seattle’s first run, then the Mariners got two-out RBI hits from Adrian Beltre and Jose Lopez in the third inning. The hit by Lopez extended his hitting streak to 12 consecutive games, a personal career best.

The Mariners had their own journeyman — Miguel Batista — starting, and he didn’t last much longer.

Given the chance to let his team build a lead, Batista watched the Mariners score once in the second inning, twice in the third. And after each, he allowed Toronto to put up a run in the bottom of the inning.

Batista escaped in the fifth inning when Lopez stabbed a line drive with the bases loaded and turned it into a rally-killing double play. So when Batista walked Lyle Overbay with one out in the sixth inning, then threw two pitches out of the strike zone to Rod Barajas, Riggleman’s patience ended. He went to his bullpen.

It almost worked.

Cesar Jimenez and Roy Corcoran got outs, and so did Arthur Rhodes and Sean Green. Each of them preserved Seattle’s one-run lead.

Putz could not. In just his third appearance since coming off a rehabilitation assignment, the big right-hander started the eighth inning and allowed three consecutive hits for a run that tied the game.

“My splitter was flat to the first three hitters, and when it doesn’t break it just sits in the hitting zone,” Putz said. “After that, I got outs with it ...”

Brandon Morrow worked through trouble in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings. That left Lowe — the last reliever left in the bullpen — to close it out.

He came close.

Greg Zaun singled and when John McDonald bunted, Lowe threw to second base, where umpire Bill Welke said the throw drew short-stop Yuniesky Betancourt off the bag.

Lowe, topping out at 95 mph, got the next two outs, then walked No. 9 hitter Brad Wilkerson to load the bases with two outs.

That brought up Inglett, a pesky infielder.

“If that’s a fly ball, Ichiro’s got it,” Riggleman said of the final play. “But it’s a line drive hit hard. Earlier in the game, Adrian (Beltre) hit a similar line drive that got over the left fielder’s head. Those are tough plays.”

Ichiro shook his head. He has his own way of determining what should be caught – anything that touches his glove.

“I should have caught it,” Ichiro said. “The frustration is losing, not dwelling on why.”