Mental blunders costly in Braves' loss to Mariners

SEATTLE (AP) -- First baseman Robert Fick didn't cover first base and shortstop Rafael Furcal compounded that mental mistake by making a physical one in the first inning.
Andruw Jones followed that up with a baserunning blunder an inning later.
That helped Freddy Garcia and the Seattle Mariners beat the Atlanta Braves 2-1 on Friday night in a matchup between the teams with the two best records in the majors.
The Mariners were surprised the Braves were so sloppy.
"If you have that many wins you must be doing something right," Bret Boone said. "I'm sure that was uncharacteristic."
Garcia (7-6) won his fourth straight start and helped hand Russ Ortiz (7-4) a heartbreaking loss.
Seattle's two-time All-Star lost his shutout bid in the eighth on an RBI double by Marcus Giles.
Furcal's throwing error in a two-run first inning by the Mariners resulted in an unearned run, but Ortiz took it calmly.
"These guys haven't made too many mistakes behind me," he said.
Garcia pitched 71/3 innings and allowed one run on seven hits and two walks, with five strikeouts.
"His confidence is going to keep growing," Manager Bob Melvin said. "It looks like he's really turned the corner."
Catcher Ben Davis said Garcia's improvement in his last four starts is more mental than physical.
"I think that's the biggest change we've all seen in Freddy," Davis said. "He doesn't let the calls or errors affect him."
In 72/3 innings, Ortiz gave up both runs -- one earned -- on seven hits, an intentional walk and a hit batter. He struck out one.
Taking advantage
In Seattle's decisive first, Mark McLemore doubled, went to third on Edgar Martinez's infield single and scored on Furcal's throwing error.
Furcal fielded Martinez's grounder and threw to first, but first baseman Robert Fick wasn't covering the bag and Furcal's throw went into the camera well.
Martinez went to second on the throwing error and scored on John Olerud's single.
Fick took the blame for Furcal's error. He thought Martinez's was going to get to the outfield and he positioned himself on the grass halfway to second to take a throw from the outfield. Instead, Furcal managed to stop the ball.
"I saw it get through and the next thing you know he got it," Fick said. "That pretty much lost the game for us."
Andruw Jones made his costly baserunning miscue that turned into a double play in the second. Jones opened the inning with a single before Fick hit a drive to right that Gold Glove outfielder Ichiro Suzuki grabbed with an outstanding over-his-shoulder running catch.
Jones was ruled out for missing second in running back to first after the Mariners appealed the play.
Third baseman Jeff Cirillo was the Mariners' player who noticed that Jones did not touch second going back to first. Jones actually missed second the first time, too.
The Braves got their run in the eighth on a single by Vinny Castilla, Furcal's sacrifice and Giles' double to right that Suzuki came close to catching.
Notes
The Mariners had their fifth sellout (45,791) of the season at Safeco Field.
Mariners starters have pitched into the seventh inning in their last seven starts for an ERA of 1.90 in that span.
Giles was 2-for-4 and has 20 multihit games this season.