Scream Weaver: 1 out, 4th loss for M's

Jeff Weaver sat in the dugout with a blank stare directed toward the pitching mound.

It has nearly been a decade since the Mariners pitcher experienced this type of embarrassment.

His start against the Kansas City Royals lasted one-third of an inning, and he was rocked for six earned runs on 29 pitches.

Seattle never recovered from that rocky opening Saturday, losing 8-3 at Safeco Field to snap a four-game win streak. It was only the Royals' second road win in Seattle in their past 13.

Every Kansas City batter had at least one hit.

Weaver, who signed a one-year, $8.3 million contract in the offseason, is now 0-4, with an 18.26 earned-run average this season. He has allowed 31 hits and 23 earned runs in 11-1/3 innings.

"That was quite shocking," said Weaver of what he was thinking when caught by television cameras staring off into the distance. "You can go out there and throw fastballs right down the middle each and every time and not have results like that. If I'm not as sharp as can be, I'm getting crushed.

"This is kind of how it started with me in Anaheim. I don't know if it's trying to do too much, trying to impress too many people, trying to get everything fixed in one game. It's hard to put your finger on it, but I'm the center of attention because of my struggles and that's understandable. All I can do is continue to work."

Weaver was facing former Mariner Gil Meche, who is pitching well after signing a $55 million, five-year contract for Kansas City, and many of the 32,441 fans at Safeco Field were prepared to heckle Weaver.

But the smattering of catcalls quickly turned to raucous boos until manager Mike Hargrove emerged from the dugout to pull Weaver from the mound, calling Sean White from the bullpen.

White capped the scoring in the first inning and hung on for three more frames to give the spent bullpen a slight breather.

Meche (2-1), who pitched six seasons for the Mariners, pitched six innings to earned the win, allowing 10 hits and three unearned runs while striking out five and walking two.

Hargrove said he has not decided how he is going to handle Weaver. Weaver also would not comment about his future, aside from saying being a long reliever isn't the answer.

"I'm really not going to talk about what I'm going to do or not going to do with Jeff," said Hargrove, who said the game wasn't fun from the first pitch to the last. "Tonight [Saturday] was not a good outing for him. He feels worse than anybody else. We've got to try to help him get back in line, but I'm not going to talk about what we're going to do or not going to do."

Despite overuse this week, Hargrove said the bullpen is fine and expects closer J.J. Putz to be available today for the finale of the three-game series.

But Saturday the focus was Weaver.

"You feel like you have it all figured out and you're ready to go out there and turn the corner and to have another game like this where it just seemed like everything you threw up there they were putting a good swinging on it," Weaver said. "Maybe I'm telegraphing a few things out there that I'm not realizing. I don't know what it is because once again I'm throwing strikes [17], working ahead and it's not fooling anybody.

"That's a little curious, but there's no one to blame but myself and I'm a big enough man to suck it up and take it for what it's worth. It's a game that can destroy you within a very short time. It's all about being mentally strong and understanding there are going to be times where you feel like you're never going to get out of it."

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com