M’s power way to first win

SEATTLE – Joel Pineiro held the Los Angeles Angels to seven hits and three runs in 6 1/3 innings, then held his breath along with everyone else as the Mariners’ bullpen barely survived at the finish in a 10-8 victory at Safeco Field.

Pineiro’s first victory since Sept. 12 last year – also against the Angels – got less and less secure after they scored twice off reliever J.J. Putz in the eighth to make it a 6-5 game

Then, in the bottom of the eighth, the Angels challenged Richie Sexson one time too many. Sexson had struck out in the fourth inning after the Angels intentionally walked Raul Ibanez to load the bases with one out, and in the eighth they did the same thing.

Ichiro Suzuki had led off with a single and Jose Lopez moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Angels pitcher Esteban Yan intentionally walked Ibanez again to set up a power-on-power battle of right-handers.

Yan threw a breaking ball for strike one, then tried to fire a fastball past Sexson. The pitch tailed over the middle of the plate, and Sexson drove it on a line over the fence in left field.

The ball never touched the ground; closer Eddie Guardado caught it between warmup pitches as he prepared to work the ninth.

It became an inning of peril.

Guardado, in his first appearance this season, needed nearly all of that cushion.

The Angels whacked him around for three hits and three runs, including Tim Salmon’s first career pinch-hit homer when he led off the ninth. Guardado finally ended the game by getting Darin Erstad to fly out.

“Eddie threw more pitches in that inning than he did all spring training,” manager Mike Hargrove said.

With Putz and Rafael Soriano having thrown in back-to-back games, and Guardado throwing so many pitches, Hargrove was asked who would be the closer today if needed.

“Eddie,” he said without hesitation. “He threw 40 pitches today. He’s got another 12 left.”

The bullpen failure, especially by Guardado, didn’t concern Hargrove.

“We’ve got to get him work,” he said. “More times than not when you bring in a closer like this just to get him some work, that’s going to happen. He’ll be better next time.”

Pineiro and the Mariners’ early offense – led by Kenji Johjima, who hit his second home run in as many days and also drove in a run in the eighth – became forgotten heroes because of the furious finish.

Pineiro stopped the Angels with first-pitch strikes and solid command of all of his pitches in five scoreless innings. He pitched only one 1-2-3 inning, the fifth, but wasn’t in serious trouble until the sixth when he gave up back-to-back singles, then misplaced a fastball that Garret Anderson pulled into the right-field seats, cutting the Mariners’ early lead in half.

Pineiro gave up two one-out singles in the seventh and Hargrove turned to the bullpen.

Right-hander Rafael Soriano got Orlando Cabrera on a pop foul deep down the left-field line, where third baseman Adrian Beltre made an over-the-shoulder catch with his back to the infield after a long run. Soriano then got Vladimir Guerrero to pop out to Johjima behind the plate.

Putz worked the eighth, allowing Rivera’s two-run homer to make the score 6-5 and Guardado, blessed with a 10-5 lead, needed it in the ninth.

“My mouth is a little dry,” Hargrove said when it finally ended.

Youth movement

According to Stats, Inc., the Mariners are fielding the third-youngest team in baseball – and that includes 43-year-old Jamie Moyer. The average age of a Seattle player is 27.02 years, and only Florida (25.17) and Tampa Bay (26.89) have a younger average.

“When Kenji Johjima made his first major league hit a home run on Monday, he became the first Mariner to do that since Greg Dobbs on Sept. 8, 2004.

Only four Mariners have done so, including Alvin Davis and Jamie Nelson.

“Though he still tapes his right wrist before batting practice and again before the game begins, outfielder Jeremy Reed said the soreness from a spring training sprain hasn’t bothered him at the plate yet. And, he insists, it won’t stop him from running into another wall, which is how he hurt it in the first place.