Pineiro passes test at Fenway

BOSTON — It was so, so close to here we go again.

Tax Day, April 15, and in the second inning Joel Pineiro looked like a man called in for an IRS audit.

Boston had loaded the bases with no outs, the last piece a 12-pitch at-bat by Josh Bard for a walk.

Five minutes later, 300 definitive seconds, and Pineiro looked like the taxman handed him a refund.

One inning later, Seattle's offense had eked three runs out of Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield and Pineiro was on his way to his first win ever here, 3-0, the Mariners' first weekend win of the season.

But the key was Pineiro's switcheroo in the second after J.T. Snow led off with a walk, Wily Mo Pena's double into the center-field triangle and Bard's walk.

"Joel scuffled the first couple of innings, but Chavvy (pitching coach Rafael Chaves) made that trip," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "It looked like Joel had been trying to be too fine, too cute, instead of just going after guys. After that he settled down and changed into Harry Houdini."

Compared to facing three on, no out in Fenway, Houdini had it easy, in a straitjacket, in a padlocked trunk, under water.

"Bad as it looked, I told him it wasn't that bad yet," Chaves said. "Runners were on base, but no one had scored yet. We didn't talk mechanics, although I told him to stop arching his back so much. I just reminded him that until the runners scored, they hadn't."

The right-hander, who often seems to try too hard, jumped ahead of Alex Gonzalez 0-2, and on 1-2, froze him with a fastball on the inside corner for out No. 1.

"I was just looking to get a ground ball," Pineiro said. "I figured get a double play and maybe they'll score only one run. But it worked out different. He took that last strike and we were on our way."

Then came the key to the game. He fanned Adam Stern on three straight pitches, every one a curveball called by Rene Rivera in his first game behind the plate this year.

"I threw the first one down and it was good, and he took it," Pineiro said. "I was thinking of a change, but Rene called curve and the batter chased it. Rene called it again and signaled to me to bounce it, to trust him, he'd blocked it. I did, Stern chased it, and Rene blocked it like he said he would."

Hargrove said that was "the big out." "If I was a pitcher I'd hate to face bases loaded and no outs. I'd want to be somewhere else like Tibet.

"Sometimes you might get the first guy with the bases loaded and no outs, but when you get the second then you move the pressure on to the other team not to waste their chance. But Joel has experience and ability and was trusting himself."

He got Alex Cora on a grounder and had escaped.

"Joel picked up the whole club with that inning," closer Eddie Guardado said. "After that, you feel you want to pick him up. After what he did for us, the offense wants to get him some runs. The bullpen wants to keep the lead for him. We all did our jobs after he showed us the way."

All the offense had to do was catch up with Wakefield's knuckleball, a pitch that would walk away with first place on "Dancing With the Stars."

But the knuckler can be double-edged and the Sox felt the bad part of the blade in the third. First, Yuniesky Betancourt hit a double off the Green Monster.

Ichiro struck out, but made first when a pitch knuckled away from Bard, a passed ball allowing Betancourt to take third.

"You can't take anything off the knuckleball to make it more catchable with a runner on third," Hargrove said. "Catching a knuckler is difficult at best. We were fortunate to get a couple of passed balls."

One more off Bard's glove and Betancourt scored and Ichiro, who had stolen second, made third and scored when Raul Ibanez lined a knuckler over Pena's head in right for a double.

Richie Sexson hit a knuckler to left for a single, making it 3-0.

"I don't think Wakefield's knuckleball was any different that inning, but I do know if you don't get to it early in the game he gets better with it as the game goes on," Sexson said. "In the eighth, I swung at one and I knew I was going to hit it and all I heard was the whoosh of the wind from my bat missing."

From his near-doom experience, Pineiro retired 14 of 15 and left a 3-0 lead to J.J. Putz, who closed out the seventh, fanned David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis in the eighth, and handed a save situation to Guardado.

"I just kept thinking of how much Joel deserved this win after that inning he gave us," Guardado said. "It's never easy. But that was great motivation."

Bob Finnigan: 206-464-8276 or bfinnigan@seattletimes.com