Carlos Silva allows nine runs in just 3-1/3 innings in his first trip back to Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — On a night that Jarrod Washburn expressed regret that he wasn't now playing for the Twins, an ex-Twin — Carlos Silva — continued his downward slide in his initial Mariners season.

In his Metrodome homecoming, Silva didn't make it out of the fourth inning as the Twins blasted Seattle, 9-3.

Silva, a sinkerball pitcher without his sink, gave up nine hits and all nine runs in 3-1/3 innings, dropping him to 4-14 with a 6.36 earned-run-average. Over his last eight starts, he is 0-5, 8.03, and opponents are hitting .351 off him.

Silva is in the first year of the four-year, $48 million contract he signed as a free agent last December. So far, the deal has been a disaster for the Mariners. But manager Jim Riggleman — tossed from the game for the first time since he replaced John McLaren in June — said that Silva will remain in the rotation.

"Carlos will be out there," Riggleman said. "He continues to throw great bullpen sessions between starts. He warms up good for his starts. Then he gets in the game and loses the sink on the ball. He throws it about thigh high."

That was particularly evident in the fourth, when the Twins lit him up for seven runs. He gave up seven hits (including a two-run Jason Kubel homer) and a walk to the nine batters he faced before Riggleman removed him.

"It's been very frustrating for him," Riggleman said. "We're all wanting him to turn it around. His history says he gets a lot of ground balls. We just have to believe it's going to start happening."

Silva, who ripped teammates after his last outing at Safeco Field, declined to comment, indicating that he was unhappy with some of the commentary about his outburst.

Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said, "His story all year has been his inability to get that big ground-ball pitch to get out of the big inning he seems to have. He's very frustrated, and rightly so. He has the ability; it's just not coming out."

Asked if moving to the bullpen might be beneficial, Stottlemyre said, "I don't know if that's the solution or not. I guess it would be a possibility, but we haven't discussed that. I feel for the guy. I know how hard he works, and how badly he wants to do it, especially today against his old team."

As for Washburn, he said he's flattered that the Mariners think so highly of him that they couldn't strike a deal with the Twins, who claimed him on waivers this week. But the prospect of going to the Twins — a team that's a 90-minute drive from his Danbury, Wis., home — was so appealing that he admits he was distressed the trade didn't go through.

"It would have been ideal," he said. "It would have been perfect. I would have gotten to go to a place that's contending, and it's in my own backyard."

Washburn said he found out Thursday that the Twins had claimed him off waivers — at about the same time he found out that the teams could not agree upon what players the Mariners would receive in return.

"I was happy and upset at the same time," he said.

The M's pulled Washburn back, and likely will keep him the rest of the season. They can't put him back on waivers for 30 days, which would be past the Aug. 31 date for postseason eligibility.

Despite his disappointment, Washburn said he'll be able to adjust mentally to remaining with the Mariners. His four-year contract expires after the 2009 season.

"My job doesn't change," he said. "I have to go out and give my team a chance to win, no matter who I'm pitching for. I'm disappointed, but if I fall on my face the last six weeks of the season, I won't be in anyone's plans for next year — the Mariners or someone trying to trade for me."

Bonser not in deal

Baseball sources shot down reports that the Mariners turned down the Twins' offer of Boof Bonser for Washburn. Bonser's name didn't come up in discussions with the Twins, a source said. Also inaccurate was speculation that the Mariners asked for Twins starter Nick Blackburn. His name was brought up early in talks but quickly pulled off the table by the Twins.

There are indications that the Mariners were willing to pick up some of Washburn's 2009 salary ($10 million) to entice a better player in return.

GM Lee Pelekoudas, who is in Jackson, Tenn., observing the Mariners' West Tennessee Class AA farm team, won't discuss trade rumors or waiver dealings. He wouldn't discuss any specifics of the Washburn situation, or even confirm that Washburn was placed on waivers.

He did reiterate that the Mariners are not looking for salary dumps, but, rather, talent.

Pelekoudas also hinted that there could be a larger trade down the road, one in which the Mariners might even take on salary to get a better player, or absorb salary of the player they are dealing.

"In general, on the issue of dumping salaries, our goal here is to get better," Pelekoudas said. "Even back to the trade deadline, and moving forward, we want to get players back that will make us better now and in the future. Money can give you flexibility, but there's no guarantee you can turn that flexibility into anything.

"I've said all along, with players under our control that people are assuming we want to move, we'd like to get value back for them. We want to get the best deal we can get for them, now or later. Other deals may come along and develop into something larger, and even involve us eating some money to get players that make us better."

Notes

• Riggleman was thrown out for arguing a fifth-inning play in which Ichiro caught a fly ball hit by Adam Everett, but dropped it on the transfer to his throwing hand. First-base umpire Mark Wegner ruled no catch, sticking Ichiro with his career-high fourth error.

"The ball is usually called out on the transfer," Riggleman said. "I really was kind of arguing blindly, because I couldn't see if he caught the ball or not, to tell you the truth."

Of the ejection, he said, "You argue a point enough, they're not going to continue to listen."

• Erik Bedard threw the first of his three straight side sessions at the Metrodome without any apparent problems.

For the record

Streak: L1

Home: 24-38

Road: 22-37

vs. AL West: 14-20

vs. L.A.: 4-7

vs. Oakland: 4-5

vs. Texas: 6-8

vs. AL East: 13-28

vs. AL Cent.: 10-18

vs. NL: 9-9

vs. LHP: 12-23

vs. RHP: 34-52

Day: 13-25

Night: 33-50

One-run: 13-23

Extra inn.: 3-7