Rangers deep-six Mariners in 7th

ARLINGTON, Texas — Mariners' manager Don Wakamatsu has presented an even-keel front this season through every slump and slip-up.

But Tuesday, after a tense game came crashing down for Seattle in an ultra-sloppy seventh inning, Wakamatsu's frustration flashed to the surface.

The Mariners' 7-1 loss to the Texas Rangers featured not only fielding lapses that drove Wakamatsu near the breaking point, but also a continuation of the team's long-standing hitting woes.

The Mariners have now scored one or zero runs in 10 games this season, and two runs in four others.

"We're going to have to make some adjustments, or maybe look to make some changes," he said afterward. "It's at a point we've got to do something. We don't have a lot of options."

The Mariners' lone bright point in the game was easy to pinpoint: Left-hander Jason Vargas — replacing Carlos Silva in the rotation and making his first start since July 3, 2007 — limited the Rangers to one run, a Chris Davis homer, in five innings.

But a 1-1 tie disintegrated in the seventh, as the Rangers erupted for six runs off Mark Lowe. Three of the runs were unearned because of an error by first baseman Russ Branyan (one of two errors he made in the inning).

But Wakamatsu seemed more perturbed by a play made — or not made — by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt on a ball hit up the middle by Andruw Jones, right after Josh Hamilton's two-run homer had put Texas ahead 3-1.

Betancourt fielded the ball but threw wildly, a play generously ruled a hit. The Rangers went on to score five more runs.

"If he makes that play, we get out of the inning, and it's 3-1," Wakamatsu said. "Whether they gave it a hit or not, that play needs to be made. There were a couple of plays we threw the ball around and didn't contain it. That's something we have to make changes with."

Of the seventh inning, Wakamatsu said, "It got out of hand with people being out of position. It's something we're going to have to get a lot better at. It's pretty disappointing to me."

He added, "Really, that one whole inning shouldn't have been so lopsided. I've talked about staying in ballgames. If we play fundamental baseball and get beat, that's one thing. But if we beat ourselves, that's awfully irritating."

And the Mariners' hitting struggles are getting to be an annoyance, if bordering on a crisis. They managed just four hits in the game, including a run-scoring double by Kenji Johjima off Rangers' starter Scott Feldman in the seventh for their only run of the game.

"Starting out the game, we did a good job getting the pitch count up," Wakamatsu said, referring to an 11-pitch at-bat by Ichiro leading off the first.

"Then we have some aggressive at-bats on pitches that really aren't that good, and let the starting pitcher get right back in it."

At least the manager had Vargas to rave about. The lefty had missed all of last season recovering from hip surgery, but earned a start after pitching well in four starts for Tacoma early in the season, then impressing with two strong relief outings after getting called up.

"It's exactly what we were looking for from him," Wakamatsu said. "He did an outstanding job, located his fastball, mixed his pitches."

Said Vargas: "I felt pretty good from the beginning. I definitely got more in rhythm after the second inning, but I really didn't feel off-balance or anything out there. I felt all right."

In five innings, Vargas gave up five hits, one run, two walks and struck out three. He was lifted after throwing 73 pitches.

"I felt real good the last inning, especially being able to get out of a jam," he said.

Miguel Batista worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth, but the bottom fell out for Lowe in the seventh. It started with the tiebreaking home run by Hamilton, who was playing his first game since coming off the disabled list. He was having a rough game to that point but jumped on an 0-1 fastball and sent it the opposite way over the left-center wall.

"I didn't think it was the right pitch," Lowe said. "Just a bad choice of pitch. He swung over the first changeup, way over the top of it. I was really just trying to throw a fastball off the plate a little to get him to hit it off the end of the bat. I just got too much of the zone."

And after that?

"You just have to battle out there," Lowe said. "There's not a whole lot you can do. Try to save the bullpen. It didn't happen. I made mistakes tonight, and it cost us the game. I'm responsible for that."

But Wakamatsu saw blame to be spread around in the ugly seventh.

"I think sometimes it's a lack of focus, and there's no excuse for it," he said.

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

For the record

Streak: L1

Home: 7-7

Road: 9-10

vs. AL West: 9-6

vs. L.A.: 4-2

vs. Oakland: 5-1

vs. Texas: 0-3

vs. AL East: 2-1

vs. AL Cent.: 5-10

vs. NL: 0-0

vs. LHP: 7-2

vs. RHP: 9-15

Day: 7-6

Night: 9-11

One-run: 7-5

Extra inn.: 2-1