Streak stopper

ARLINGTON, Texas — After a wild and winless week on the road, the Mariners finally got a victory Wednesday, their biggest of the year, 14-5, over the Rangers.

The Mariners had 18 hits — 17 singles and Raul Ibanez's eighth home run — to snap losing streaks of six games overall and eight on the road.

Yet it's not a case of all's well that ends well.

"It's a baby step," said Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, whose recent lineup shift paid a good return. "After we won that extra-inning game in Anaheim, people were telling me, 'That's a turning point.' Then we went to Oakland [and were swept] ...

"Then we had that meeting and a 5-2 homestand and people were saying again, 'That's a turning point.' Then we came on this trip ...

"I'm so sick of hearing about turning points, I'm about ready to puke. Let's all wait to the end of the season and see what our turning point is."

Actually, this game would be as good as any, with triple plays and bad baserunning as forgotten as Oakland meetings or batters' bleatings.

Mariners update


Winning pitcher: F. Hernandez (4-6)

Losing pitcher: J. Koronka (4-3)

Friday: Kansas City at Mariners, 7:05 p.m., FSN/KOMO 1000 AM

Starting pitchers: M's LH Jamie Moyer (2-5) vs. RH Bobby Keppel (0-0)

Case in point was Ibanez, whose Texas League single made it 1-0 in the first, and whose three-run homer in the third was the focal point of an eight-hit inning, the biggest of the season.

A far cry — literally — from Tuesday, when complaining got him tossed.

"That was yesterday and, in the words of the song, yesterday's a memory," Ibanez said. "Yesterday's irrelevant. That's the beauty of baseball. Once I got in the box today, it was just a game again, a new day, a new game."

A new result.

Felix Hernandez, who survived a ball off his pitching arm in the third inning and five Rangers runs in the fifth, pitched well in five of his six innings.

Adrian Beltre was one of three Mariners with three hits, along with Ichiro and Mike Morse, who played acceptably well at first base, with Richie Sexson the designated hitter. Beltre and Sexson each drove in a run in the same game for only the fifth time this season, the Mariners being 4-1 in those games.

As much as anything, however, Seattle showed some gumption when faced with a Texas comeback, with Gary Matthews' first grand slam cutting a once-hearty 7-0 lead to 7-5 in the fifth inning.

Although Texas reliever Joaquin Benoit had shut them down for three innings, the Mariners came at him when their win was at risk. Ichiro led off the sixth with a single and stole second, and with two outs Ibanez was walked intentionally.

That brought up Sexson, searching for peace of mind in the form of runs produced. On 1-1, he seemingly had missed again with a grounder scorched right at shortstop Michael Young.

But the ball took a bad hop, nearly beheading Young before bouncing past as Ichiro scored and Ibanez scored.

"That was huge," Hargrove said.

"That was a good break, at least," said Sexson, who has struggled at the plate for much of the season. "It was a break for the team and for me. It felt good. I didn't care if it was an error or a hit, as long as we got two runs in."

From there, the Mariners ran it up. But back when it was a game, Hernandez had been huge, too.

The big fellow, looking more and more phenomenal, cruised through the first two innings, getting a 6-4-3 double play out of Young in the first.

Mark DeRosa glanced a one-hop grounder off his right biceps leading off the third. "No sangre [blood]," he said. "It wasn't hit that hard."

When Hargrove suggested Hernandez's arm tightened in the fifth, Hernandez said flatly, "No, it had no effect at all. If it bothered me, how could I pitch well in the sixth?"

He was affected more when umpire Charlie Reliford seemed to miss a 2-1 call on a breaking ball to Matthews in the fifth.

"That was a strike, and it changed things," Hernandez said. "On 3-1, I had to make him hit the ball. I didn't want to walk him. So he knew what was coming, and he hit the slam."

If there was that — the Mariners' sixth grand slam served up this month — there was also Yuniesky Betancourt's scintillating double play in the fourth inning, when he somehow ran down Young's ball up the middle, fed Jose Lopez, who caught the ball barehanded and flipped it to first.

"I didn't know I could get it," Betancourt said through Lopez. "I just kept going until I did."

And for that, Hernandez smiled. "I told him, 'That's why I love you.' "

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