Sports

POSTED: Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008

MARINERS: Seattle finishes off sweep of Cleveland

CLEVELAND — Ryan Rowland-Smith has now seen life from the other side, and Sunday it made him a nervous wreck.

A reliever making the transition to starting pitcher, Rowland-Smith handed over a five-run lead to the Seattle bullpen in the seventh inning and watched it shrink to just two runs with the bases loaded in the ninth inning.

“I’ve come out of the bullpen and been that guy,” Rowland-Smith said. “Watching that was hard, mate.” On everyone in the Mariners dugout, too.

Only after Roy Corcoran got a bases-loaded double-play grounder to end the game on Sunday were the Mariners assured of their 6-4 win over the Cleveland Indians — a win that gave them their second series sweep of the season.

Corcoran, who opened the ninth inning by walking two batters on eight pitches, was asked afterward if he was relieved about getting the final outs.

“I was — and I think quite a few other people were, too,” Corcoran said. “I’m extremely happy with the team’s performance, and not happy at all about my own.”

There was plenty to be happy about for a Mariners team that has won six of its past seven games and might, for the first time in months, be accurately described as “hot.”

Adrian Beltre hit a pair of home runs — his 22nd and 23rd of the season — and Rowland-Smith continued his spot-on work in the ro-tation with 6ª innings in which he allowed one earned run.

Raul Ibañez singled home a run that gave him 31 RBI for the month of August, Corcoran got a save and then there was Miguel Cairo.

Some Mariners fans haven’t figured out yet what Cairo is doing starting so many games — he has no power, and playing first base he’s not considered a productive hitter.

Manager Jim Riggleman, however, lumps Cairo, Tug Hullett and Willie Bloomquist in one admirable club. “Baseball players make baseball plays,” Riggleman said. “They find ways to help a team win, and teams don’t often win consistently without them.”

Take Cairo on Sunday.

Indians starter Zach Jackson, working in a 1-1 tie, had just hit Jeff Clement with a pitch to open the fifth inning to bring up Cairo, who’d been watching the young pitcher closely.

“I noticed with men on base, he went to his off-speed pitches, and I saw the third baseman playing deep,” Cairo said.

So he dropped a near-perfect bunt toward third base.

Jackson did what pitchers often do in that scenario — he tried to make a spectacular play when there wasn’t one to be made, and he threw the ball away down the first base line.

Both runners moved up a base, Ichiro Suzuki singled home one run, Ibañez another and a third scored on an error.

Then Beltre hit one out — and that little bunt play had sparked a five-run inning.

“Whenever I play, whatever little thing I can do to help win, that’s my job,” Cairo said. “Maybe it’s a defensive play, something on the base, moving the runner over. Today it was that bunt.”

The inning put Rowland-Smith ahead, 6-1, and after he’d pitched a quick fifth and sixth inning, he got a little greedy.

“When I went out to pitch the seventh, I was thinking I might be able to get through the eighth,” Rowland-Smith said. “I got a little ahead of myself out there.”

An error and two quick one-out singles loaded the bases with Grady Sizemore due up, and Riggleman went to the mound to pull his starter.

“He pointed out Sizemore had already seen me in three at-bats,” Rowland-Smith said, “so he wanted to go to Jake Woods. Jake came in, threw a lovely little slider and got Grady. It was a great pitch.”

After Woods got the second out, Randy Messenger came in and got the third.

Messenger, however, couldn’t get an out in the eighth inning and once again, the Indians loaded the bases – this time with no one out.

With J.J. Putz on the shelf for the day and Corcoran held in reserve for the ninth, Riggleman went to veteran Miguel Batista.

Batista retired the next three men in a row, and while two runs scored on outs, he limited the damage and got a 6-4 lead to Corcoran in the ninth.

“The ninth inning, when it’s all yours, is an entirely different animal than any other inning,” Riggleman said. “That’s why great closers are so respected – they wrestle that animal every night.”

Corcoran trotted in and, on four pitches, walked Sizemore.

“I was thinking, ‘Dang it, that’s the last thing you want to do, Roy,’ ” Corcoran said.

With his next four pitches, he walked Jamey Carroll. “I was really ticked off then,” Corcoran said.

Catcher Kenji Johjima trotted to the mound, put an arm around his pitcher and talked quietly.

“I told him to stay calm, be aggressive low in the strike zone,” Johjima said.

“He let me catch my breath a little,” Corcoran said.

Victor Martinez struck out, but Corcoran walked Jhonny Peralta to load the bases. In the dugout, Riggleman was pacing. In left field, Ibañez was telling himself to stay positive. On the mound, Corcoran took a huge breath.

Then he got a ground ball from Ryan Garko, managed to deflect it slightly to Yuniesky Betancout. Betancourt flipped it to second baseman Jose Lopez — who caught it bare-handed and threw to first for the game-ending double play.