SEATTLE – The Seattle Mariners thought Hector Noesi had overcome his problems with a stellar second start.
Not so fast.
Noesi reverted to his early struggles Friday night, giving up six runs without getting through two innings of the Mariners' 7-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
"He wasn't able to locate his fastball, and his secondary stuff never really came into play," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "Just didn't have it today."
Adam Dunn hit two homers, doubled and drove in five runs, to power the White Sox.
Noesi lasted just 1 1-3 innings. He gave up six hits and six runs to send his ERA soaring to 9.49 from 5.73. Erasmo Ramirez pitched one-hit ball for 3 2-3 innings.
After a rough debut with Seattle in Texas when he allowed seven runs in three innings, Noesi threw eight scoreless in his second start.
This time Noesi threw 38 pitches in the first, including an 11-pitch walk to A.J. Pierzynski. Alejandro De Aza singled, Brent Morel walked and Dunn had an RBI double. Alex Rios' sacrifice fly made it 2-0.
"You've got to give him every opportunity to get going because you never want to go to the bullpen that early," Wedge said. "It makes for a long night and potentially a long week."
Dunn connected for a three-run homer off Hector Noesi (1-2) in the second inning to make it 6-0. He hit his third home run of the season in the eighth, giving him 31 multihomer games and the first since joining the White Sox. It was the first time Dunn had homered against Seattle in 12 career games.
"He keeps staying at it, and that's all we're asking him to do," Chicago manager Robin Ventura said. "He's staying positive and working, and I see that happening more often. He is going to have a few strikeouts, but he's able to put that on the side and still come out and have quality at-bats."
Chris Sale (2-1) struck out 11 in 6 1-3 innings. He gave up three runs and seven hits for the White Sox.
"They say pitching wins ballgames, but, today, that wasn't the case the way they were swinging the bats," Sale said.
Said Sale: "Sporadic with my control at times. Got to give it to A.J. (Pierzynski). He really got me through that game."
Jesus Montero hit his second home run of the season to center field in the sixth and Ichiro Suzuki singled home Brendan Ryan in the seventh to make it 6-3.
Seattle threatened from the start with back-to-back singles by Chone Figgins and Dustin Ackley, putting runners on first and third with none out. But Sale struck out Suzuki and got Justin Smoak to ground into a double play.
The Mariners also put runners on second and third in the second inning, but could not score. They finally broke through in the third when Suzuki had a run-scoring double into the left field corner.
Mariners reliever Hisashi Iwakuma made his major league debut in the sixth inning. Iwakuma was the last player on an opening-day roster that wasn't injured or sent to the minors to appear in a game this season. He pitched four innings and allowed just one run.
"His first time we wanted to make sure it was a clean inning," Wedge said. "He pitched four innings today and saved our bullpen, because it can affect you a long time when you have to go to the bullpen in the second inning."
Casper Wells doubled twice for the Mariners which were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
NOTES: Former Mariner Ruppert Jones, the first player selected in the 1976 expansion draft, threw out the ceremonial first pitch Friday. ... Since 2003, White Sox pitchers lead the majors with 801 quality starts. ... The White Sox struck out 16 times Thursday, their most since Sept. 17, 2005, at Minnesota, when they struck out 16 times, too.
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