Correia Roughed Up By Mariners In Twins' 8-2 Loss
SEATTLE (AP) — Kevin Correia believed he was prepared and in control heading into his start against the Seattle Mariners.
It turns out, he wasn't.
Correia allowed six runs and seven hits in the Minnesota Twins' 8-2 loss to the Mariners on Thursday night.
"I thought I had a good game plan. Felt good coming in," the right-hander said.
Correia (7-7) lasted only 1 2-3 innings as the Mariners tagged him for six runs in the second. It was his shortest outing since June 6, 2010, when he also went 1 2-3 with San Diego against Philadelphia.
"They just kind of jumped on me and I couldn't get them off," he said. "It was obviously my worst start of the year. I felt all right. The first half of the second inning I was making good pitches and then I made a couple bad pitches and they just kept hammering them."
Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma (10-4) allowed four hits in six shutout innings to earn his 10th victory.
Six of the first seven Mariners reached with a hit to start the second, and all six scored. Kyle Seager opened with a double off the right-center wall. Justin Smoak then singled to right.
With one out, Mike Zunino singled to left to score Seager, Dustin Ackley sent Smoak home with a single to right, Brad Miller's double drove in Zunino, and Nick Franklin hit his eighth homer, a three-run shot on an 0-2 pitch.
"The curveball kind of got me in trouble," Correia said. "I threw five or six of them. Half were really, really good and the other half were really, really bad."
Franklin's approach was simple when he was down in the count.
"I was just looking to make contact," he said. "The infield was in. I was just looking to put the ball in play and get a run home anyway I could."
The six runs were the most the Twins have allowed in one inning this season. The Mariners' seven hits were their season high in a frame.
"First time we've seen Correia have a hard time," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He just couldn't get the ball where he wanted it to.
"Just a bad inning for him and we just haven't seen that from him. He's been really, really good for us. A tough one there. You get behind, their guy is a pretty good pitcher. He moves the ball all over the place. Made it a little tough to get behind that quick."
Against the Twins, Iwakuma is 4-0 and hasn't allowed an earned run in 26 2-3 consecutive innings over his four starts — Minnesota's third longest streak. He has held the Twins to a .168 batting average with eight walks and 24 strikeouts.
"I don't know if I'm good against them, in general, but I was able to pitch down in the zone, get ahead on the first pitch, and just be aggressive with the fastball," Iwakuma said.
Felix Hernandez, who starts Friday, has the fourth longest streak at 24 straight scoreless innings.
The Mariners matched their season high with three errors. But Iwakuma picked up the defense and worked out of jams.
One of the critical innings was the third when the Twins loaded the bases with one out on two singles and an error by Kyle Seager at third. But Iwakuma struck out Trevor Plouffe and got Clete Thomas to bounce out to second.
Henry Blanco and Ackley had back-to-back two-out RBI doubles in the fifth for Seattle.
The Twins scored their runs with two outs in the ninth on back-to-back doubles by Chris Herrmann and Doug Bernier.
NOTES: Thompson, who has managed the past four games in place of Eric Wedge (mild stroke), will fill in for at least nine more games before Wedge is expected to return. ... DH/OF Mike Morse (quad), on rehab at Triple-A Tacoma, could return to the Mariners this weekend. ... Twins C Joe Mauer remained in Minneapolis after his wife gave birth to twin girls on Wednesday. He was placed on the paternity list, and C Dan Butera was recalled from Triple-A Rochester.
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