M's let another one walk away

CLEVELAND — That hand wrapped around the Mariners' collective throat grasped even tighter as their newly-acquired, 38-year-old reclamation project kept missing the strike zone.

And Seattle's loose grip on a playoff spot slipped free at roughly the same time reliever Rick White walked home the decisive run in the ninth. A full-count offering to Kenny Lofton was taken for a ball and the Cleveland Indians had saddled the Mariners with a 6-5 defeat Thursday night that bumped Seattle out of the American League wild-card lead.

This see-saw struggle and the way Seattle battled all night made the defeat even tougher for them to take. A crowd of 25,949 at Jacobs Field never stopped cheering after White, who'd already notched the inning's second out with two men on, walked the next two batters and sealed his team's sixth consecutive defeat.

"It's a sickening feeling in your stomach," White said of the borderline final pitch to Lofton getting called just a little bit high.

"I'm not convinced it was high," White said. "What do you do? It's over with now."

Mariners fans all across the Pacific Northwest likely were thinking the same thing about the team's playoff chances, though Seattle is only a game behind the wild-card leading New York Yankees.

Adam Jones hit his first home run since the Mariners called him up a month ago, while also notching a game-tying single and key bunt in making a rare right-field start.

But it wasn't going to be enough. This fourth losing streak this season of at least six games could not have come at a worse time and has a segment of Mariners faithful disconsolate and looking for scapegoats.

Many will focus on White, who'd had some hard luck in previous key situations. He gave up a broken-bat single to Vladimir Guerrero in the eighth inning Tuesday night that helped break open the middle game of a series sweep suffered at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels.

But while immediate fan anger might be at the pitcher, many will point fingers at manager John McLaren for using the veteran in the first place. McLaren had closer J.J. Putz warmed up and ready to go in the bullpen, but was reluctant to use his closer in a non-save situation.

Instead, with the majority of his bullpen already used, McLaren went to a pitcher who'd spent the past month recovering from a neck injury in Class AAA before joining his 11th major-league team last week.

"He was the only guy we had, to be honest with you," McLaren said, adding that lefty long man Ryan Rowland-Smith was going to work extra innings if the game stayed tied. "We had to have J.J. available, if we ever took the lead, to wrap it up."

McLaren has used Putz in multiple innings before when he's had rest. He's also used him in non-save situations, but only at home when Seattle has the final at-bat.

His reluctance to break from that traditional use of a closer brought White into a game after the rest of a tired-looking bullpen had muddled through a game that starter Horacio Ramirez left with two out in the sixth.

Ramirez fell behind 3-0 early, but he was down only 3-2 when he left. Seattle scored on a Jones homer to right center in the sixth off Cleveland starter Aaron Laffey and a run-scoring single by Jose Guillen that same inning.

But few Mariners starters have made it through middle innings of late and the relief corps, so dominant all year, showed signs of weariness. Eric O'Flaherty severely hurt his team's chances by hitting Ryan Garko on an 0-2 pitch with one out and a runner already on in the ninth. That brought White into the game.

In the seventh, after singles by Jones and Yuniesky Betancourt had rallied the Mariners from 3-2 down into a 4-3 lead, the bullpen gave it right back. Lefty reliever George Sherrill uncharacteristically walked southpaw hitter Grady Sizemore, then yielded two bloop singles that tied the game.

Brandon Morrow came on and allowed a screaming line drive to left that nicked the glove of lunging left fielder Raul Ibanez for a double that put Seattle behind by a run. But the Mariners fought back to tie it in the ninth off embattled Cleveland closer Joe Borowski.

A leadoff walk and single to center put two on for Jones, who worked the count to 3-1 before laying down a nice bunt that moved the runners up. Betancourt then nudged a full-count grounder to the right side that tied the game at 5-5.

"That was my best at-bat today, the sacrifice I did," Jones said. "This year, I think I got one or two sacrifices because I was in the heart of the lineup. I don't bunt a lot, but that's something I need to do. So, it was real fulfilling that I was able to get it down, especially in a key situation."

But Jose Vidro completed an 0-for-5 night by taking a called third strike with the go-ahead run at third. That set the stage for Cleveland's walk-off finish.

"We battled back like we always do," McLaren said. "We need some guys to give us some innings to give our bullpen a rest, to give them the benefit of the doubt here. We've really been using them a lot. We really haven't had any choice."

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

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners