With Branyan and Lopez Gone, Mariners Falter

With two of their most productive hitters missing today, the M’s were only able to muster up three runs in a 10 inning loss to the San Diego Padres – two of which came on Franklin Gutierrez solo home runs.

Seattle got off to a good start, going up 1-0 in the first on a two-out RBI double off the bat of Ken Griffey Jr – but that one run lead turned into a one run defecit before the first inning was completed. Brandon Morrow gave up runs in the first on a David Eckstein RBI double and an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single.

The Mariners answered by scoring a run in the fourth and a run in the sixth, both on long homers courtesy of Franklin Gutierrez. Unfortunately for the Mariners, the 3-2 lead didn’t last any longer than the 1-0 lead. Chris Jakubauskas handed it right back in the bottom of the sixth via an Adrian Gonzalez long ball – one, I should mention, that Franklin Gutierrez was about an inch away from bringing back.

The score remained 3-3 up until the tenth inning. In the top half, the Mariners failed to capitalize on a two on, one out situation, which would prove to cost them the game.

After recording two quick outs in the bottom half of the inning, Miguel Batista allowed a double to Adrian Gonzalez (he went 4-4 on the night), followed by a game winning single off the bat of Kevin Kouzmanoff.

The walk off single came on a 3-1 pitch, with two outs and the pitcher’s spot on deck. The way I see it, after falling behind 3-1, Batista would have been better off just putting Kouz on. Cliff Floyd was going to be the pinch hitter, and he, well, let’s just say he isn’t the hitter he used to be. It’s in the past though, so let’s not let today’s game wipe our minds clean of the way Batista has pitched for the most part this year.

Game notes and other news:

Ichiro’s hit streak is now at: two games (yes, I’m going to do this all season).

We finished the road trip at 4-5, not too bad considering the fact that it included a three game sweep at the hands of the Colorado Rockies.

We start a six game homestand tomorrow night, it contains a three game series with the Diamondbacks followed by another three game series with the Padres.

Morrow did not pitch well today, just want to clear that up. He only walked one hitter, but he had no command of his fastball whatsoever and he gave up a lot of hard hit balls.

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