Mariners commit 4 errors in losing for 12th time in 14 games

ARLINGTON, Texas — Long after the latest Mariners defeat was done, his teammates clearing out of a somber clubhouse, Raul Ibanez stood up and did some talking on their behalf.

Ibanez did not have the best of nights. He failed to make a tough catch in left field on a double that led to one run, and later he made a bobble after a base hit that cost his club the go-ahead and decisive marker. But while a media-relations staffer was trying desperately to chase down a pouting, dismissive Felix Hernandez, sucking back a beer and lingering in the player dining room and showers for 45 minutes after the game, the veteran Ibanez came out and took all questions fired his way.

Pitching and defense cost the Mariners big time in this 5-2 defeat to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night. But while the architect of some of that shoddy defense was on hand and accounted for, on a night the Mariners committed four errors, the pitcher of record did his best to avoid talking even as a team official several years older than he pleaded politely with him to come out.

Hernandez's antics — he later emerged after most reporters had left the clubhouse — may not matter to fans of a team now 15-26 and on the verge of owning the worst record in the major leagues. But at a time when Seattle players and coaches keep preaching accountability and fans demand some from a stunningly disappointing team, it's clear that some Mariners are willing to be more forthcoming in that department than others.

"It's definitely disappointing," Ibanez said, speaking of the team's record after this 12th loss in 14 games. "It's definitely disappointing because we know we're a very good ballclub."

On paper, perhaps, but in real life the hitting-challenged, error-prone and now pitching-deprived team has lost eight consecutive series. Ibanez said he thought the slicing drive hit his way by Brandon Boggs in the second inning would wind up becoming a double play because Texas base runner David Murphy had gone too far off his base.

But Ibanez failed to catch the ball.

"It was slicing away," he said. "I thought I caught it and it hit the outer part of my glove."

The Rangers instead had runners on second and third with none out, then took the lead on a Gerald Laird single. After the Mariners tied it 2-2 in the sixth, chasing starter Kason Gabbard from the game, Ibanez bobbled a leadoff single by Laird in the bottom of the frame.

That led to Laird advancing an extra base and later scoring the game's decisive run on a sacrifice fly.

Ibanez is still one of the team's top hitters, improving to .300 after two more hits in this game. There will likely be calls by some fans for Ibanez to be moved to designated hitter as the season progresses.

But he insists that kind of finger pointing can't be allowed to happen in the clubhouse.

"I don't think that's going to happen here," he said. "We win together, lose together and that's the belief in the clubhouse. Guys are sticking together. If we can put some kind of a streak together, the bats are starting to come around, we can get back in this. But we have to stick together and so far we are."

Hernandez had his third consecutive subpar outing in this one at a time his team needs him most. He did scrape through six innings, needing 112 pitches in a laborious effort that saw him issue five walks and leave with his club trailing 3-2.

Seattle nearly got their 22-year-old starter off the hook when Kenji Johjima just missed hitting a two-run homer in the eighth. But Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton made a leaping catch at the wall.

Two more unearned runs, on errors by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and right fielder Wladimir Balentien in the bottom of the inning helped put this one away.

Hernandez finally did appear at his locker and uttered some throwaway lines about keeping his team in the game, then insisted he was still attacking the strike zone aggressively.

But a disheartened-looking manager John McLaren said something has changed in Hernandez's approach.

"Felix wasn't real sharp tonight," he said. "He's been out of sync a little bit the last couple of times out. I don't think laboring's the word for it. But he's not attacking the zone the way he was."

McLaren added: "One thing we've got to keep in mind is that we've got to stay together as a group. We can't start drifting off as individuals. We're dealing with a few issues and that's about it."

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