Bedard attempts to rebound against Padres
Posted: Sat May 17 11:02 AM
(Sports Network) - Erik Bedard will try to rebound from his worst start in a Mariner uniform when he takes the hill tonight for Seattle, which continues a three-game interleague set with the San Diego Padres at Safeco Field.
Seattle's prize offseason acquisition was spotted a 5-0 lead on Monday against the Rangers but was shelled for six runs on seven hits and four walks over just two innings. He also allowed a pair of homers in a game his club went on to lose, 13-12, getting Bedard a no-decision.
That outing came after Bedard suffered back-to-back losses to the Yankees and Rangers despite allowing five runs (three earned) over a total of 14 innings with 11 strikeouts. Seattle also scored just one run over those two games.
The left-hander, who saw his earned run average go up from 1.99 to 3.48 to go along with a 2-2 record, has faced the Padres once in his career. He earned a win over them on June 21 of last season, yielding two runs while striking out nine over six innings.
Randy Wolf gets the starting assignment for the Padres and is 0-3 over his last four starts. Wolf has been tagged for five or more runs in three of those outings -- all setbacks -- including Monday's loss in Chicago. He allowed seven runs on eight hits and five walks in four frames of his third straight road start. He is 1-2 in five road outings this year with a 6.35 ERA.
The left-hander will face the Mariners for the first time in his career.
San Diego drew first blood in this series on Friday with a 6-4 victory, defeating Seattle for just the fourth time in the last 13 meetings. The Mariners won four of six versus the Padres last year.
Brian Giles went 4-for-5, drove in two runs, scored once in the win. Tadahito Iguchi went 3-for-5 with a solo homer and finished with two runs batted in for the Padres, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Khalil Greene and Josh Bard had an RBI apiece in the win.
Chris Young (4-3) took the win after going six innings and giving up four runs on five hits. Trevor Hoffman earned his eighth save of the year with three strikeouts in the ninth. It also marked his 38th career save in interleague play.
Ichiro Suzuki, who led all players in interleague play last year with a .486 average and 35 hits, snapped an 0-16 slump with a single in the seventh for the M's, who have dropped three of four. Ichiro also stole his 17th base of the season, giving him 289 in his career, which leaves him one shy of Julio Cruz's club record of 290.
Kenji Johjima went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, while Yuniesky Betancourt and Jeff Clement had an RBI each. Johjima has now hit safely in six straight games, and he is batting .440 (11-for-25) in that span with four multi-hit games, two homers and seven RBI. His season average is now up to .236.
Miguel Batista (3-5) took the loss after he was touched for six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings of work.