BASEBALL: Ibanez the hero for Mariners

“Raul is as locked in as I’ve seen anybody,” Putz said.

“Right now, Raul may be there with anybody in the game,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “He hit a good pitch, and he managed to keep it fair. He hit it so hard it didn’t have time to go foul.”

Over his last five games, Ibanez has 16 RBI – none bigger than that 16th.

In a game dominated by starting pitchers Felix Hernandez and Andy Sonnanstine, the Mariners were losing, 1-0, in the eighth inning.

Then rookies Wladimir Balentien and Bryan LaHair triggered the game tying rally in the bottom of the eighth inning. Balentien led off with a double that slammed off the wall about a foot from the top in right center field.

“He crushed that ball,” teammate Jeff Clement said.

LaHair followed with a single into right field that was hit hard enough that third base coach Sam Perlozzo held Balentien.

Yuniesky Betancourt then hit a fly ball to left field, deep enough to score the run that tied the game.

All that got Hernandez, after eight innings and 105 pitches, was another no-decision in a season dotted with them. His 21st start of the season was among his best, and the only run scored against him came on a wild pitch with a runner at third base in the fourth inning.

"Felix is not easy to handle, his stuff is electric,” Riggleman said. “Just because you call a breaking pitch doesn’t mean you know where it’s going.”

Behind the plate, with the speedy Carl Crawford at third and one out, Clement called for a breaking ball. It landed in the dirt just in front of him, skidded into his right shin guard and away.

Crawford scored easily.

“It should have been a passed ball,” Riggleman said. “Jeff knows he has to knock that pitch down.” Regardless, the pitch produced the only run scored until the bottom of the eighth inning. After the game was tied, Riggleman pulled his starting pitcher for closer Putz – who immediately hit Evan Longoria and gave up a single to Carlos Pena with one out.

“In that situation, you’re thinking ‘double play’ or ‘strikeout,’” Putz said. “When we got to two strikes against (Cliff) Floyd, I thought ‘strike out.’”

And got it, with a fastball clocked at 98 mph.

That brought up Dioner Navarro, and Putz got to two strikes with him, too.

“I was thinking ‘strikeout’ there, because a broken bat single, a squib ground ball can beat you,” Putz said. Putz threw an 88 mph split-fingered fastball that broke sharply away from Navarro, who swung and missed. That kept the game tied – briefly.

Leading off the bottom half of the inning, Ibanez stepped to the plate. Over the past four days, he’d been writing his name in the Seattle record book for most RBI in one game, two games, three games, four … His last home run had broken a tie with Bret Boone, giving Ibanez more homers (63) at Safeco Field. No. 64 broke a tie with Tampa Bay.

On a fastball in, Ibanez hit his 18th home run of the season – and the fourth walk-off home run of his career.

“If I’d been trying to hit one out, I’d have struck out,” Ibanez said. “I knew I hit it hard enough, I didn’t know if it would stay fair.”

It did, and a crowd of 25,423 screamed its approval.

“When a player is really locked in, it seems like the game finds him every night,” Putz said. “The game is finding Raul, and he’s up to it. It’s great that some of these young kids get to see a guy like Raul who works so hard. Some day, they may get the chance to be just like him.”

The victory, Seattle’s 45th of the season, brought the teams record under Riggleman to a more respectable 20-23. It also left the Mariners 3-1 against the Rays.

In the end, Hernandez sliced his earned run average from 3.04 to 2.94, but remained stuck on seven wins.

He won his seven on July 18, and has three no-decisions and one loss since, despite not allowing more than three earned runs in any start.

“Felix is pretty special,” Clement said.