Mariners Unable to Capitalize

Given an Oakland loss, the Seattle Mariners couldn’t take advantage.

Jamie Moyer lasted only 1 2/3 innings in his shortest start of the season, and the Mariners lost to the Texas Rangers, 13-6, Thursday night.

Seattle (89-70), which played its final home game of the regular season, maintained its half-game AL West lead over second-place Oakland (88-70), which lost to the Angels, 6-3, in 14 innings.

“You want to capitalize when you have a chance, but we didn’t,” Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez said.

The Mariners face the Angels in a three-game series starting tonight at Edison Field, while the Athletics are home for three games against Texas, then travel to Tampa for a makeup game Monday night.

“Let’s hope they swing the bats in Oakland over the weekend,” Mariner Manager Lou Piniella said after watching the Rangers get 15 hits. “Let’s hope they carry on like this.”

The Mariners got closer to the playoffs when Cleveland (87-72) lost to Minnesota, 4-3, in 10 innings and remained 1 1/2 games behind Oakland in the wild-card standings and two games behind Seattle.

Seattle could clinch a playoff berth tonight if it wins and Cleveland loses.

“We’ve been playing pretty good the last two weeks,” Mariner designated hitter Edgar Martinez said. “We just had a bad game.”

Moyer, making his 26th start, allowed four runs and six hits, and Seattle gave up double-digit runs for the 14th time this year--the third against Texas.

Moyer, who refused to speak to reporters, is 2-7 with a 6.48 ERA in his last 12 starts after going 11-3 with a 4.00 ERA in his first 14.

“He told me he couldn’t get the ball down,” Piniella said. “It was obvious he wasn’t sharp.”

Seattle’s bullpen, which had a 2.08 ERA in September coming in, gave up nine runs, nine hits and six walks.

“We didn’t pitch very well today,” Piniella said.

The crowd of 43,264 at Safeco Field cheered wildly when the Athletics’ final score was posted, but the fans watched quietly after Texas took a 6-5 lead with a two-run fifth inning and broke open the game with four more runs in the sixth.

Many left after Ruben Sierra’s three-run homer off Frankie Rodriguez in the eighth, Sierra’s first major league home run since May 19, 1998.

Rick Helling (16-13) gave up home runs to Martinez and John Olerud, but managed to stop the Rangers’ five-game losing streak, allowing six runs and five hits in six innings.

Scarborough Green broke a Ranger record with five stolen bases, one more than David Hulse had against Milwaukee on May 1, 1993. The Rangers had six steals against Seattle catcher Joe Oliver.

Trailing, 5-4, the Rangers went ahead in the fifth againstBrett Tomko (7-5) on RBI singles by Chad Curtis and Sierra.

Then in the sixth, the Rangers made it 10-5 on Rafael Palmeiro’s sacrifice fly and Ricky Ledee’s three-run double off Jose Mesa.