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Washburn dominant as Mariners blank Royals

Jul 5, 2007 - 4:14 AM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Seattle Mariners lefthander Jarrod Washburn continued his dominance of the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium.

Washburn pitched eight-plus scoreless innings, giving up five hits, as the Mariners topped the Royals, 4-0, on Wednesday night to avoid being swept in the three-game series.

Washburn (8-6) improved to 6-1 with a 2.43 ERA in nine career starts at Kansas City.

"It's a beautiful stadium," Washburn said. "I've always liked coming here. I wish it was that easy to pitch good in a park that you think is a beautiful place. I think there are a lot of them that are beautiful that I don't pitch well in at all. I don't know what it is. It's just one of those things that you can't explain."

Closer J.J. Putz entered after Washburn allowed the first two runners to reach in the ninth and closed it out for his 24th save.

"I didn't want to come out like that and put us in a hole and J.J. in a hole, but it worked perfect for J.J.," Washburn said. "I told him I'll leave guys on the bases all the time if you just have to throw two pitches to get a save. So he's turned into a double-play ground ball guy now."

Putz retired pinch hitter Shane Costa on a fielder's choice grounder on his first pitch. On his next pitch, Alex Gordon grounded into a double play.

Washburn has won three straight starts, allowing three earned runs in 22 innings, to lower his ERA to 3.72. He struck out five and walked one.

"I was getting ahead, that was the biggest key," Washburn said. "I was commanding both sides of the plate. My off-speed stuff was pretty sharp. (Catcher Jamie) Burke did a nice job behind the plate. The defense did a great job behind me. That's a good recipe for success."

The Royals were blanked one day after scoring 17 runs, matching their season high.

"Washburn was throwing that cutter to righties and the splitter to lefties," said Kansas City's John Buck, who had one of the five hits. "He didn't miss much over the plate. Maybe we used too many runs yesterday."

The Mariners, who have won nine of their last 12 games, gave Washburn all the run support he would need with a four-run first inning. Jose Guillen and Adrian Beltre each drove in a pair of runs as the Mariners sent eight men to the plate in the frame.

Guillen's single scored Ichiro Suzuki, who led with a single and has hit safely in 52 of his past 55 games, and Jose Vidro. Beltre's double down the left field line brought home Guillen and Ben Broussard, who had walked.

Brian Bannister (5-5), who was the American League Rookie Pitcher of the Month for June, when he went 5-1 with a 2.75 ERA, was charged with the loss. Bannister threw 36 pitches in the first inning but lasted seven innings.

"The whole first inning boiled down to Ichiro getting on and I went to a slide-step to prevent Ichiro from stealing," Bannister said. "I lost my timing and lost my release point. I got it back and got the double play, and I was flying the rest of the game.

"My whole goal was to prevent Ichiro from getting on base. That was frustrating and it threw me off my whole game."

After the disastrous first, Bannister did not give up a run and only three more hits. He walked two in the first but none after that and threw just 62 pitches of his 98 pitches in his final six innings.

Esteban German, who doubled with one out in the first, was the only Royal to reach second base off Washburn. He also had a leadoff single off Washburn in the ninth.

Kansas City's David DeJesus singled in the sixth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

The victory was the first for John McLaren, who replaced Mike Hargrove as the Seattle manager on Monday. After the game, the players sprayed McLaren with beer.

"I've got an autographed champagne bottle (by the players), the ball and the lineup card," McLaren said. "I've got a memory that will never leave me. The first one is always the toughest I guess. It's emotional for me.

"Of course, I wanted my first win, but we needed a win as a team. We went through a shock as a team, myself included, when Grover (Hargrove) stepped down. We needed a pick-me up. We needed a win in a worst way and we got it."

The Royals' postgame Fourth of July fireworks spectacular turned out to be like their offense - a dud. According to a Royals spokesperson, a late-afternoon rain, which delayed the start of the game for 15 minutes, soaked the fireworks and they did not go off after the game.