Major League Baseball
Mariners extend club record for losses to 16
Major League Baseball

Mariners extend club record for losses to 16

Published Jul. 26, 2011 4:30 a.m. ET

The Seattle Mariners found nothing sweet about this 16.

Two errors, a couple of calls that went against them and an unfortunately placed bat helped the Mariners extend a club record with their 16th straight loss, 10-3 to the New York Yankees on Monday night.

''You don't blame things,'' said Adam Kennedy, who made one of the miscues in the fourth inning. ''But it's true, when things are going bad that's what happens.''

A rain delay at the start of 1 hour, 57 minutes was the only thing that slowed this defeat for Seattle. The game was barely under way when Mark Teixeira crushed any pregame hopes Seattle had of jumping out early and snapping the streak. Teixeira hit a rare homer into the second deck in left field after Curtis Granderson walked in the first.

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In the third, Derek Jeter hit his first homer since connecting for hit No. 3,000 on July 9. He also tripled in the eighth.

But things really fell apart with Seattle trailing 3-1 and one out in the bottom of the fourth inning. Russell Martin reached when Kennedy couldn't handle his tough grounder down the third base line. Andruw Jones then was called safe on a toss play to pitcher Jason Vargas at first base. Replays showed Vargas (6-9) won the race to the base.

Eduardo Nunez and Brett Gardner followed with RBI singles. Jeter hit a grounder to second. Rookie Dustin Ackley's throw home nicked Jeter's black bat, and the ball bounced past catcher Miguel Olivo, allowing a run to score and the runners to advance. Granderson had one of his two sacrifice flies, and Teixeira made it 8-1 with a single.

Another insurmountable lead.

''It's one thing when you know you're kind of all over the place and they get to you, but other than that home run in the first to Teixeira they just battle you and battle you and don't give up at-bats and don't give in,'' Vargas said. ''I did my best out there to try to limit what was going on but nothing was going right for us.''

Vargas lost his fourth straight start. He gave up eight runs - four earned - and seven hits in four innings.

After scoring 29 runs in the past six games and breaking the franchise's 1992 record of 14 losses in a row on Sunday, the Mariners went down meekly against Freddy Garcia (9-7). With only the occasional player standing at the railing at the top step of the Seattle dugout until the game was well out of hand in the eighth, the Mariners mustered just three hits through the first six innings.

The Mariners were at .500 on July 5, 2 1/2 games back in the AL West and an early season surprise. But everything has fallen apart since. The skid is the longest in the majors since Kansas City lost 19 in a row in 2005.

Things aren't looking any better for the Mariners. They face 14-game winner CC Sabathia on Tuesday.

''They're staying together with this thing, it's just a hell of a thing we're going through right now,'' manager Eric Wedge said. ''We just got to keep showing up and doing different things and trying different things to try and get back on track.''

Garcia got his start with Seattle in 1999, was a two-time All-Star and went to the AL championship series twice in his 5 1/2 seasons in the Pacific Northwest. He hasn't been an All-Star since but has been a steady addition to the Yankees' rotation this season.

Garcia gave up eight hits and three runs in a season-high 7 2-3 innings, helping New York improve to 3-1 in a 13-game stretch against teams currently below .500.

''You don't want to be the guy,'' Garcia said about being the one to lose to a team on a long skid. ''You go out there and do the best you can do every time you go out there.''

Ichiro Suzuki cut the lead to 2-1 with a sacrifice fly in the third after the first two runners reached. The Mariners' rally was halted when Franklin Gutierrez was thrown out trying to advance on a ball that bounced in the dirt.

Justin Smoak had an RBI single in the seventh, and Brendan Ryan added a run-scoring double in the eighth.

NOTES: INF Chone Figgins was not in the Seattle lineup because he was tending to a family emergency. ... Mariners RHP Shawn Kelly (elbow surgery Sept. 1) will fly to Triple-A Tacoma to make a rehab appearance Wednesday. ... LHP Eric Bedard, out since June 28 with a left knee sprain is set to start for Seattle Friday. ... Yankees manager Joe Girardi says Alex Rodriguez (knee surgery, July 11) is on target to return mid-August. ... New York INF Eric Chavez (broken toe) could be activated Tuesday. He's been out since May 6. ... Yankees right-handed reliever Rafael Soriano (May 17, elbow inflammation) pitched a scoreless inning for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

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