Mariners beat A’s, win season-high fifth straight game

OAKLAND, Calif. It’s probably too late in a season filled with missed opportunities to make much of a difference. And the failure to do something like this in the first few months put them in this position.

But on Sunday at O.co Coliseum, the Mariners accomplished something they had yet to do in 2015 win their fifth straight game.

Hisashi Iwakuma gave Seattle a solid start, the offense provided three runs against rookie left-hander Sean Nolin in his 2015 MLB debut and the bullpen specifically Tom Wilhelmsen held on for a 3-2 win, giving Seattle its longest win streak of the season.

“Winning is way better than losing,” Logan Morrison said. “A good winning streak is always good for team morale.”

Seattle wrapped up the 10-game road trip with a 7-3 record. Realistically, they were a wayward throw from Brad Miller away from being 8-2 instead.

“We’re playing extremely hard and we are getting timely hitting,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “Guys are doing a good job, but we still have a long way to go.”

And he wasn’t talking about the standings. But in a closer look at the postseason race, the Mariners (66-71) sit six games out of the second wild-card spot, which is occupied by the Rangers, with the Indians, Rays, Angels and Twins ahead of them. Texas comes into Safeco Field on Monday for a four-game series.

“We can’t look back on what we’ve done,” Wilhelmsen said, “We just have to continue to look forward and keep this ball rolling.”

Wilhelmsen has been rolling since being reinserted into the closing role a few weeks ago. With Carson Smith unavailable to pitch, McClendon brought in Wilhelmsen with one out and the tying run on second base in the eighth inning.

After falling behind 3-0 to Brett Lawrie, Wilhelmsen came back and got him to pop out on a 3-1 slider.

“Obviously, you don’t want to go 3-0 to the first batter you face,” he said. “I just told myself, ‘I’m not in the mood for walking him.’ There was no chance I was going to walk him. I’m not going to give them any sign of weakness that I can’t find it.”

And the slider?

“I wanted him to swing at that pitch and it was probably the only slider I threw that I felt I had a good grip on,” he said.

With two outs, Wilhelmsen got Billy Butler to ground out to short to strand the runner.

Wilhelmsen returned in the ninth inning and got two quick outs before allowing back-to-back singles to Marcus Semien and Billy Burns. But he ended the game and notched his 10th save of the season when Seth Smith grabbed Mark Canha’s hard line drive to left field.

“Tom was as gutsy as I’ve seen him in the two years I’ve been here,” McClendon said. “That was not an easy save from a guy that needs rest desperately. He did a tremendous job for us.”

Unlike the first four wins of the streak, where they scored a total of 34 runs, offense was at a premium this time. Nolin was part of the return in the trade that sent All-Star third baseman and potential MPV Josh Donaldson to Toronto. The talented lefty pitched six innings, giving up three runs on five hits with three walks and a strikeout. The absence of Nelson Cruz (quad strain) and Franklin Gutierrez (groin tightness) certainly was a factor.

After being held scoreless for the first four innings, the Mariners broke through against Nolin with three runs in the fifth, despite a bad baserunning mistake.

Logan Morrison led off the inning with a single. Brad Miller followed with a ground-ball single into right field. Morrison tried to go from first to third on the hit. And he would have made it if he had slid into third. But he didn’t and was tagged out by third baseman Danny Valencia.

Chris Woodward, who was normally the first-base coach but filling in for an ill Rich Donnelly at third base, didn’t motion Morrison to slide on the play, instead holding his hands up to keep him at third.

McClendon felt that Morrison should have slid regardless.

“Valencia did a good job of ‘deking’ me,” Morrison said. “I didn’t know the ball was coming and I should have slid.”

Did he think Woodward was telling him to stand up and not slide?

“Honestly, I wasn’t even paying attention,” he said. “I was just looking at the third baseman.”

Normally it’s a mistake that costs a team a win. But the Mariners overcame it. Jesus Sucre and Shawn O’Malley drew walks to load the bases. Ketel Marte drove in Miller with a bloop single to right field. Kyle Seager followed with a sac fly to score Sucre and O’Malley hustled home on a wild pitch.

A 3-0 lead seemed like plenty for Iwakuma, who was working on seven days’ rest. He cruised through the first six innings allowing just three hits. But a misplaced split-finger fastball with one out in the seventh led to a solo homer from Billy Butler. Iwakuma then gave up a single to Coco Crisp, ending his day.

He worked 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts to improve to 7-3.

(c)2015 The Seattle Times

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