Mariners Win But Get Set To Lose Beltre

Knowing they face the next couple of months without injured third baseman Adrian Beltre, the Seattle Mariners will soon find out whether they can stay afloat in the AL West without one of their top hitters.

“It’s a big blow that we’re losing him for a period of time, but hopefully we can keep it going and have some fun until he gets back,” said Ken Griffey Jr. “Back in 1995, I was out for 70-something games, but we were still able to have a little fun at the end of the year.”

Beltre played the final two games of this three-game series after deciding to have surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.

“Here’s a guy that played in a lot of pain, didn’t have to play and didn’t need to play today,” manager Don Wakamatsu said. “We had talked about last night being his last game, but he came in and said: ‘I’m not having surgery until Tuesday, so I’m going to give you one more. I want to be with my teammates and I want to gut it out.’