It's triple pain for Mariners in 9-5 loss to Twins

MINNEAPOLIS — If this keeps up, the Mariners will have to issue little white bags to fans attending their games.

The Mariners have been doing a lot to create queasiness lately, from missing two big chances on running miscues Friday night to blowing a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the first inning Saturday night with three straight strikeouts.

But that was surpassed in the eighth inning Saturday, when Seattle ran itself into a triple play in an 9-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins. It was the Mariners' third straight defeat.

The Mariners took a 4-1 lead on Raul Ibanez's three-run homer in the second, but the Twins had rallied for an 8-4 lead when the Mariners again loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth inning.

Juan Rincon came in to relieve and got out of the jam with one pitch as the Mariners handed the Twins a triple play, the M's first since 2002 and the eighth in their 30 years. It was the first triple play Minnesota has turned since 1990 and only its 11th in 46 years.

Kenji Johjima bounced to second and Luis Castillo closed on the ball. He tagged Adrian Beltre running from first as Beltre desperately tried to elude Castillo by diving to the ground.

Castillo then threw to first, a double play as Richie Sexson scored. But Carl Everett wandered too far around third and first baseman Justin Morneau rifled a throw to that bag that had Everett out by five feet.

"I made my normal turn and the ball was in my face," Everett said. "I take responsibility for that. My mistake was not knowing where the ball was, while they were making a good play."

In the first inning, the Seattle offense finished with similar results as the previous two-plus games, when it scored one run in 23 innings.

After three straight hits by Ichiro, Willie Bloomquist and Ibanez to open the inning loaded the bases, one might say Seattle went poof versus Boof. Rookie right-hander Boof Bonser, that is. He fanned Sexson, Everett and Beltre to escape unscathed.

"We've had the bases loaded with no outs three times in two games and scored one run and we've got to find a way to turn that around," Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said. "We've been leaving a lot of potential runs out there."

Asked if changing the lineup around might do something, Hargrove responded with some asperity.

"What good would that do?" he said. "Are we going to hit Jose Lopez fourth? Ichiro fifth? The guys hitting in those spots are good hitters. We've got to play through this, fight through this.

"You get out of it by playing through it. As frustrating as it is for anyone else, it is doubly frustrating for the guys in the clubhouse."

Sexson, who began the string of three strikeouts in the first inning, acknowledged the frustration.

"We're not getting it done, and it's getting talked about," the first baseman said. "We talk with you [media] about it, Grover talks about it, the coaches talk about it.

"When you go up there in those situations, you find yourself thinking about it, and then trying too hard. It goes on until we get it done, then it doesn't get talked about any more."

The Twins eked out a run in the first after a strong throw home by Ichiro just missed getting Luis Castillo.

In the second, Ibanez smashed a homer off the facing of the upper deck in right-center, measured at 460 feet from home, good for three runs and a 4-1 Seattle lead.

But Seattle starter Jamie Moyer was unable to keep his team ahead. Minnesota kept hitting the ball to left and beyond with three doubles, and a homer by Michael Cuddyer, going that way.

"I thought I made some good pitches, but I could not repeat them," Moyer said. "It was one game where I felt I never got away with a mistake."

He kept it close for a few innings, but these days with Seattle's lineup a muddle in the middle, close is nowhere near enough.

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com