Mariners miss more chances in makeup

CLEVELAND — Mike Hargrove talked his way out of the last loss the Mariners were headed toward at Jacobs Field.

He couldn't pull that stunt with the umpires again Monday.

Instead, the Mariners ran themselves out of two innings and left runners on base in several others during a 5-2 loss in the first of four makeup games against the Cleveland Indians.

The game was a makeup of the April 6 home opener in Cleveland, which was called after 4-2/3 innings in a storm that dumped more than 2 feet of snow and postponed the entire four-game series.

"We left 10 men on base and we hit the ball well, but we just didn't get the big hit with people in scoring position," Hargrove said. "We had our chances."

Take the ninth inning, for instance. The Mariners trailed the Indians, 5-1, yet loaded the bases with no outs against Roberto Hernandez.

Ichiro then stepped to the plate against reliever Joe Borowski, and he drove in a runner with a ground out. Unfortunately for the Mariners, Jose Vidro flew out, and Jose Guillen ended the game as the potential tying run with a ground out.

"With bases loaded and nobody out, we really had our chances right there," Guillen said. "We've just been struggling, and we've got to find a way to get hits with guys on base. We've got to get better.

"We've just been the worst team with guys on base in those situations."

Guillen's right, and he would have a hard time finding another club that has hit 6 for 47 (.130) with runners in scoring position over its last five losses. First baseman Richie Sexson accounted for a chunk of that, but he finally had his first hits since May 13.

Sexson's baserunning became his latest issue Monday. After right-hander Cha Seung Baek put the Mariners in a 1-0 hole in the first, Sexson reached first in the third with a one-out single.

Vidro scampered to second on the play, and Guillen stepped to the plate. He went down swinging, though, and catcher Victor Martinez picked Sexson off at first after he veered too far from the base.

"He [Sexson] looked better at the plate, and now he has to try to remember how many outs there are in an inning," Hargrove said. "It's been so long since he got on base, I'm sure he was confused."

Sexson reached base again in the fifth — after the Mariners tied the score at 1-1 an inning earlier — with a double off the left-field wall. Guillen motored around the bases on the play, but Josh Barfield took David Dellucci's relay throw and nailed him at the plate.

"It's two out, and Barfield made a great play right there," Guillen said. "He saw that I was coming, and he made a pretty good throw to home plate."

Baek made two costly pitches.

Baek hung one of those pitches in the fifth, which Casey Blake drove over the left-field wall for a solo homer and a 2-1 Cleveland lead. The scored stayed there until the seventh, when Baek passed the 100-pitch mark and surrendered three of his five runs.

He gave up a leadoff single to Trot Nixon in the seventh, and then allowed a single by Jhonny Peralta. Dellucci walked to load the bases, before Baek struck out Ryan Garko.

But Barfield drove in two runs with a double and knocked out Baek (1-2).

"He missed to Barfield," Hargrove said of Baek. "He said he felt strong, and he threw the ball very well."

Now, if the Mariners could just back their pitchers with hits in clutch situations.

"We've got a club of guys who are free swingers," Hargrove said. "We're doing what we can to try to modify that to a certain extent, but it basically comes down to our guys swing very aggressively at the plate.

"It's a little bit like when Richie's going bad, you wade through the bad and get to the good. There's going to be times when this happens. We're going to start scoring runs again."