Mariners lose, but Ian Snell looks promising in debut

ARLINGTON, Texas — Everything had been done by the Mariners since last week's trade to provide a comfort level to incoming pitcher Ian Snell.

They'd given him the lowdown on their trade-deadline plans, explaining why he had to spend the first 48 hours of his Mariners tenure on a Class AAA roster. Once he arrived, the Mariners rolled out the welcome mat, put their best catcher at his disposal and gave him a crash course on life in the American League.

But it was in the team's 4-2 loss to the Texas Rangers here on Sunday night that Snell was expected to provide the Mariners some comfort of their own. The team is looking for assurances that Snell can become a rotation fixture for years to come, and his six-inning performance here with only two runs allowed was a step in that direction.

"That's what I'm here to do," Snell said. "Keep the team in the game and help them win it."

Snell kept the Mariners in this one, allowing just three hits, including solo homers to David Murphy in the first and Michael Young in the sixth. But Sean White entered a tie game in the seventh and yielded a two-run homer by Jarrod Saltalamacchia that sealed a third Seattle loss in four nights here.

A crowd of 28,670 at Rangers Ballpark saw Snell stick to the game plan of keeping the fastball-hitting Rangers off balance with an abundance of change-ups. Snell also mixed his two-seam fastball in more as it continued to yield ground balls.

Mariners catcher Rob Johnson, the preferred handler of the staff, spent the past two days getting to know Snell's pitches. Johnson even braved 100-degree pregame heat to catch the majority of Snell's bullpen session so he could get a feel for his stuff.

"He's a really humble guy," Johnson said. "We had a game plan and he stuck to what we wanted to do."

Snell said that part was easy.

"I think I shook him off one time the whole game," he said. "I'm new to this league, he's been around this league for a while, so I just followed him."

The plan worked before Snell's forearm tightened, causing the Mariners to pull him after six innings and 84 pitches. Snell was struck in the arm by a line drive in his final Class AAA outing, but the team checked him out after this game and said he was fine.

Seattle managed only five hits in seven innings off Texas starter Scott Feldman. Four came in the sixth, when Johnson, Michael Saunders and Ichiro opened with singles. Two runs scored on a ground out and a Jose Lopez bloop hit to give Snell a 2-1 lead.

But Young tied it in the bottom of the inning. The Mariners didn't get another hit until Russell Branyan was hit by a pitch in the ninth and Lopez singled off C.J. Wilson. Both moved up on a ground out and Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu then opted not to pinch-hit for Jack Hannahan with either Franklin Gutierrez or Mike Sweeney.

"The biggest reason was that Hannahan's hit about .330 over the last seven games and I felt that he'd been having some good at-bats," Wakamatsu said.

But Hannahan went down swinging, as did Jack Wilson, who was called out despite vehemently arguing he'd foul-tipped a pitch in the dirt.

"I got a little piece of it," Wilson said. "That's just the way it goes sometimes, but it's tough to end a game like that."

Wakamatsu has wanted to make Snell feel welcome, especially in light of the pitcher's oft-publicized battles with the Pirates and his bouts with depression — including one self-described suicide attempt. Snell has gone out of his way to be cordial to everyone around the team, appearing to desperately want a fresh start.

The Mariners want to give him one.

Wakamatsu warned Snell in his first phone conversation that he'd have to go on the AAA roster until the trade deadline played out. The manager didn't want Snell worrying something funny was going on, so he explained the situation fully and Snell was added to the big-league club right away once Jarrod Washburn was dealt.

Later, Wakamatsu had a long chat with Snell's former Pittsburgh teammate, Jack Wilson, to gain better insight into the pitcher.

"To come into this ballpark and give up three hits against this lineup, I thought he did a tremendous job," Wakamatsu said.

Enough to bolster the team's comfort level for five more days.

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

For the record

Streak: L1

Home: 27-22

Road: 27-29

v. AL West: 17-18

vs. L.A.: 7-6

vs. Oakland: 6-3

vs. Texas: 4-9

vs. AL East: 14-10

v. AL Cen.: 12-16

vs. NL: 11-7

vs. LHP: 18-17

vs. RHP: 36-34

Day: 20-15

Night: 34-36

One-run: 25-14

Extra inn.: 5-4