M's lose battle of bad with 6-4 loss

Major League Baseball's contrived "natural rivalry" of the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres actually makes some sense this year.

The two teams, who train at the same facility in Peoria, Ariz., also entered Friday night joined at the bottom of their respective leagues, ranking as two of the most disappointing teams in baseball.

Which made San Diego's 6-4 win Friday night in front of 35,586 at Safeco Field that much more frustrating for the Mariners, who had hoped a gutty 12-inning win Wednesday at Texas might spark a turnaround.

Instead, the struggling Miguel Batista gave up hits to the first three batters he faced, all of whom scored, as the Padres jumped out to an early lead they never relinquished.

"A little disappointing," said Mariners manager John McLaren. "We were coming home. All I can say is we will be here tomorrow."

So will the Padres, as this was the first of six games this year between the two teams, designated as natural rivals for the purposes of interleague play.

It was the third straight time Batista has been rocked early — he allowed two runs Sunday against the White Sox and two against the Rangers on May 6.

"It's tough when you've got to think about going to your bullpen in the second inning," said McLaren. "Miggy did hang in there and give us some innings."

He lasted 5-1/3, long enough to allow the Mariners to get back into it as a Seattle offense showing some increased life knocked around San Diego starter Chris Young — who had allowed two or fewer runs in six of his eight previous starts — for four runs in six innings.

But while the M's twice got within a run, they never could catch up in losing for the eighth time in 10 games and 13th in the last 16.

"We battled," said first baseman Richie Sexson. "We got down early against a pretty good pitcher, and we fought back. But we just didn't get the win."

The Mariners are now tied with the Padres for the second-worst record in baseball (16-27), ahead of only the Colorado Rockies (15-27).

Like the Mariners, the Padres had legitimate thoughts of contending in their division this year after losing a tiebreaker for the wild card in 2007.

But they entered the night having won just seven of their last 26 games, mired in last in the NL West.

They threatened to end this one before many fans had a chance to sit down, however, as the first three Padres batters hit the ball hard off Batista.

Boos rang out after the third of those hits, a double by Brian Giles, and again when Batista walked one batter and then hit another later in the inning, though he kept the damage there.

Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said he thought Batista had a good warmup and was surprised he struggled early once again.

"All we can do is talk about it and keep working on it and keep trying to refine his pitches a little bit," said Stottlemyre. "I've been trying to get him to trust his stuff a little bit more early in games. Sometimes I think he's throwing better than what he thinks, and he's trying to be a little too fine and it costs him a lot of pitches."

Batista, who has now allowed 16 earned runs in 20 innings in May, wasn't around to give his version, leaving the clubhouse before reporters arrived. He is now 2-3 with a 9.90 earned-run average at Safeco Field this season.

Batista, who threw 29 pitches in the first inning and 105 overall, gave up another run in the second on a solo homer by Tadahito Iguchi to make it 4-0.

But then the Mariners offense got rolling, scoring three runs with two outs off Padres starter Chris Young.

The surging Kenji Johjima keyed the rally with a two-run homer, giving him a six-game hitting streak, while Wladimir Balentien and Yuniesky Betancourt followed with back-to-back doubles to add another.

The Mariners blew a chance to take the lead, however, when Adrian Beltre struck out with the bases loaded and Young seemingly on the ropes.

Each team added a run in the third, but then the Mariners went cold, getting just four hits, all singles, after the third inning.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.