Arizona bullpen torches another lead as Diamondbacks fall to Seattle Mariners

June 20, 4:42 AMPhoenix Sports ExaminerTom Kessler

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Ken Griffey hits a game-tying two-run homer for the Seattle Mariners during the eighth inning Friday night against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks. (AP photo/John Froschauer)

Through seven innings Friday night at Safeco Field in Seattle, the Arizona Diamondbacks appeared to be in complete control.

Starting pitcher Jon Garland was throwing shutout baseball, and the D-backs had scored three runs off Mariners left-hander Jarrod Washburn. Garland had scattered seven hits and one walk, and he had struck out three batters, including .347 hitter Ichiro Suzuki to end the bottom of the seventh.

Garland was working efficiently, having thrown 102 pitches (70 for strikes) through the first seven frames. The Mariners were showing no signs of rallying. The Diamondbacks were poised to win their third straight game.

But then Arizona manager A.J. Hinch made the call to his bullpen.

Seven Seattle batters, five hits, two homers and four runs later, the Diamondbacks had completed another monumental relief-pitching meltdown. The result was a four-run eighth inning for the Mariners and a 4-3 loss for the cellar-dwelling D-backs.

The collapse was the fourth this month for Arizona’s beleaguered bullpen, a unit which gave up five runs in the bottom of the eighth in a 6-5 loss to the Dodgers on June 2 and which surrendered five runs in the bottom of the ninth to torch a 6-1 lead against the San Diego Padres on June 7. On Friday, the Diamondbacks relievers altered the course of the game with the same jaw-dropping swiftness, allowing a leadoff home run to Russell Branyan, a game-tying two-run homer to pinch hitter Ken Griffey and a verdict-sealing RBI triple to Rob Johnson.

After Branyan began the Mariners’ eighth-inning comeback with a home run to right field against left-hander Scott Schoeneweis, the Diamondbacks brought in right-hander Tony Pena.

Adrian Beltre greeted Pena with a base hit to left-center field. After Pena struck out Mike Sweeney and retired Franklin Gutierrez on a fly ball to center field, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu called upon Griffey to pinch hit for Wladimir Balentien.

Griffey, a Mariners superstar from 1989 to 1999 who returned to Seattle this season after a long tenure with the Cincinnati Reds and a short stint with the Chicago White Sox, crushed the first pitch he saw from Pena into the right-center field seats, stirring the Safeco Field crowd of 27,319 into a joyous frenzy.

With two outs and the score tied at 3-3, the Mariners rode their wave of momentum, grabbing the lead on a single by Chris Woodward and a run-scoring triple to left field by Johnson.

The Diamondbacks went quietly in the ninth against Seattle closer David Aardsma, who allowed a two-out single to Eric Byrnes but struck out the side for his 13th save.

Miguel Batista (4-2, 3.27 ERA) earned the win for the Mariners (33-34) in relief of Washburn. Batista pitched a scoreless eighth after Washburn allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits in seven innings.

Pena (5-3, 3.86 ERA) took the loss for the Diamondbacks (29-39). He was charged with three runs on four hits in one inning.