Balancing act yields victory for M's

There had been talk all spring by the Mariners about the balance in this year's offensive attack.

It wasn't as sexy, as say, the talk about Felix Hernandez dropping 20 pounds. Or chatter about the hot seat, J.J. Putz's elbow, or whether the team would make Brandon Morrow's arm fall off by rushing him to the big leagues.

But the talk was there for anyone who cared to listen. It's still there, front and center in an increasingly confident Mariners clubhouse. The only difference now, after the Mariners scored four runs in the seventh inning to beat the Oakland Athletics 8-4 on Tuesday night, is in the number of people ready to lend an ear.

"Everybody on our offense did their jobs tonight," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "Whether it was moving runners over, or driving in a two-out run as Ichiro did, or a sac fly as Adrian Beltre did — a lot of the things we worked on in spring training, these guys put into effect tonight."

Let's not forget a two-run homer in the second inning by Richie Sexson. Or an even bigger, two-run blast to left by Yuniesky Betancourt off A's reliever Kiko Calero to snap a 4-4 tie in the seventh.

The crowd of 25,287 at Safeco Field, a sizeable drop from opening day, was breathing much easier after an ensuing Ichiro triple in that seventh and Beltre's sacrifice fly to right gave the bullpen a sizeable lead. They had already seen reliever Julio Mateo squander a 4-2 advantage that Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn had nursed through six frames, yielding a pair of runs in the top of the seventh.

And these are, after all, the nemesis A's. It bears repeating that Seattle's two wins this week have matched their victory output for the entire 2006 season against Oakland.

So, nothing was in the bag until Betancourt drilled Calero's 2-0 offering over the left-field fence. This two-for-two start to the season — the first time in 11 years the Mariners have pulled that off — didn't even seem secure with a four-run lead in the ninth once newbie reliever Morrow put the first two batters on with a four-pitch walk and a single.

But a balanced attack leaves room for mistakes. Just ask Morrow, who overcame his jitters and recorded three consecutive outs with J.J. Putz waiting in the wings just in case.

Better yet, just ask the shell-shocked A's.

They saw Nos. 5 and 8 hitters Sexson and Betancourt go deep, Nos. 6 and 7 guys Jose Guillen and Kenji Johjima record back-to-back doubles in the fifth, leadoff man Ichiro drive in a pair, and No. 2 man Beltre round out the scoring with his fly ball.

"The team is very balanced," agreed Betancourt, who beefed up with a personal trainer's help this offseason. "And this year, with me and [Jose] Lopez having a little more experience, it's helping out tremendously."

Betancourt had gone deep just nine times in his first 218 major-league games. But he swatted a pair of homers this spring and nearly connected for a solo blast in Monday's season opener on a ball that seemed to die in the air of an open-roof stadium.

The roof was closed this time.

"When they open the roof the ball doesn't carry as well," Betancourt said. "But when they close the roof, it carries a lot better."

When the No. 8 guy, who usually is the No. 9 hitter, is hitting out game-winners, there aren't many holes to speak of.

It all had the A's and starting pitcher Joe Blanton paying for every mistake.

Blanton had been 6-1 with a 2.50 earned-run average lifetime against Seattle and, aside from Sexson's second homer in two days in the second, appeared to be outpitching Washburn until the fifth.

That's when, with the Mariners up 2-1, Guillen lined a double to left field and Johjima followed with another two-bagger that lunging right fielder Bobby Kielty couldn't corral. By the time the inning ended, it was a 4-1 game and any chance Blanton had for a win was fading fast.

Washburn admitted he didn't have his best stuff early on, walking three batters and seeing his pitch count soar to 104 through six. But he fought to "do enough to get by" and keep his team in it until the balanced attack proved too much for Oakland to handle late.

"I always like seeing us score," Washburn said with a smile. "You can never have too many. We have the potential to have a real good offense this year and it's great to see the guys get off to a good start."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com.

Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners