Red-Hot Left Fielder hits Mariners first walk-off home-run of the season in the bottom of the 9th

Mariners 2, Rays 1

Thursday August 7, 2008 - Raul Ibanez was 0-for-3 at the plate in a 1-1 ballgame in the bottom of the 9th on Thursday night.  Maybe his recent tear he has been on at the plate was finally coming to an end.  Crack! Ibanez led off the inning drilling a Dan Wheeler pitch over the right field wall for his fourth career walk-off homer to win it for Seattle knocking off the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.  It seemed as if for once this season, Tampa was on the losing end of some late inning heroics.

The Mariners nearly wasted a pitching gem by Felix Hernandez who pitched 8 fantastic innings allowing only four hits while striking out five.  The only blemish on the day for Felix was a wild pitch off of Jeff Clement that scored Carl Crawford in the 4th inning.  Hernandez got a “no decision” as he left the game when it was tied at 1-1 before the 9th. 

J.J. Putz entered in the top of the 9th with the task of facing the meat of Rays lineup.  Putz started the inning forcing Crawford to fly out to deep left field for the first out.  Then he got himself into his classic “J.J. 2009″ trouble.  With a 0-2 count to Evan Longoria, Putz hit Longoria with a wild pitch to put the go-ahead run at first.  Carlos Pena followed with a single moving Longoria all the way over to third base to put runners on the corners.  Putz then showed some brass by striking out Cliff Floyd and Dioner Navarro back-to-back to set the table for Ibanez’s blast in the bottom half.  Putz picked up the win improving his record to 5-4.  It was inspiring to see a guy that has struggled so badly at times this season get the job done like he knows he can.  He really showed the stuff that made him so dominant last season with his back against the wall.

The Mariners have been on the losing end of these types of games so many times this season, its great to see things going their way recently.  I think the Twins series has given this team a boost of confidence in clutch situations.  Game 2 of the series will be tomorrow night with Carlos Silva (4-12) taking the mound against James Shields (9-7) at 7:10 PT.  The loss for the Rays brings their division lead over the Red Sox to just 2.5 games.

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