Jeff Clement shows promise for Mariners in 8-3 loss to Atlanta

ATLANTA — In the midst of a steady onslaught of crises and defeats, the Mariners these days are happy to find any silver linings or small blessings.

In the midst of an 8-3 loss to Atlanta on Sunday that seemed over from the moment Mark Teixeira hit the first of his three homers — that was the second inning — the Mariners hope they found Jeff Clement.

More accurately, they hope Jeff Clement found himself.

Ending an 0-for-13 skid that dated to his first ill-fated stretch with the Mariners in May, Clement lashed a double into right field in the seventh, and crushed a two-run homer to dead center in the ninth.

"I'm sure he's feeling a little better about that," manager Jim Riggleman said.

Take away the hope of a breakthrough from their top young prospect, and there was nothing for the Mariners to savor on another desultory day at the ballpark.

Starter Carlos Silva was ripped again (four runs and nine hits in four innings, including two of Teixeira's homers) as his losing streak reached nine games, longest in the majors.

The offense, minus injured Adrian Beltre (sore left index finger) and the resting Jose Lopez, was shut down for seven innings by Tim Hudson.

Jose Vidro had a foul ball bounce up and hit him flush on his left cheek, leaving the area swollen and sore; and Ichiro went 0 for 5 as his 31-game hitting streak in interleague games ended.

Heading into play Sunday, Clement seemed in danger of falling into the same sort of morass that marked his previous stay with the big club, in which he hit .167 in 15 games, with 20 strikeouts in 55 at-bats.

He was 0 for 9 since his second recall from Class AAA Tacoma last week. When he rolled over on a tantalizing changeup from Hudson in his first at-bat, grounding out to first, it was a "here we go again" moment.

But where Clement went, crushing the ball twice, including a double off Hudson, is right where the Mariners want him to go.

"It obviously helped quite a bit, just getting a couple of hits and hitting a couple of balls hard," Clement said. "Can I build on it? That's what I'm going to try to do."

The Mariners hope the difference this time is that Clement knows he's not being judged on short-term performance. With the season already lost and the future now their pre-eminent focus, the Mariners plan to keep running him out there most days.

"We've made it very clear to him: He's going to get a much longer look this time than last time," Riggleman said. "That's when the anxiety comes in, if you feel, 'I'd better hurry up and get some hits or they're going to run me out of here.'

"We're not in a hurry. I'm sure he's in a hurry."

Clement has always been a "one day at a time" guy, and he says that's not going to change.

"If you look too far into the future, you're going to have trouble," he said. "Each day has enough problems as it is."

Clement's latest problem, he said, has been a tendency to pull off the ball too soon.

"I tried to make a conscious adjustment of staying through the zone a little bit longer," he said.

Does he feel different this time than he did during his previous stay with the Mariners?

"Just going through the failure," he said. "When you go through adversity and fail, either you get a lot better, or you get worse. I tried to take it as an opportunity to grow.

"Obviously, I didn't want to fail, but I did. It's how you react to that. That's how you find out what you're made of. I'm trying to learn from that and get better in the future."

Clement's prize is another start tonight — against maybe the toughest left-hander in baseball: the Mets' Johan Santana.

"The last couple of years, I've hit left-handers better," Clement said. "Obviously, I've never faced a left-hander like that."

Sunday's game, meanwhile, belonged to Teixeira, who stands to be one of the top free agents in baseball this winter.

The switch-hitter had solos off Silva in the second and fourth while batting left-handed, and a two-run shot off Ryan Rowland-Smith in the seventh while batting right-handed.

It was the second three-homer day of Teixeira's career, and the fourth time he has homered from both sides of the plate in the same game. No one had ever hit three homers in a game before at Turner Field, which opened in 1997.

"To hit three in one game, a lot has to happen," Teixeira said. "You have to get good pitches to hit, make good swings, and that first one stayed fair [hitting the foul pole in right], so you have to have some luck, too."

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com