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SEATTLE -- Miguel Batista left his start against Oakland Friday night with a strained groin after walking five of 10 batters, becoming the fourth Seattle Mariners pitcher this month to get hurt.

The 37-year-old Batista, who has had tightness in his lower back and hip intermittently since spring training, allowed three runs and labored through 42 pitches in the first inning of the Mariners' 4-3 loss to the Athletics. He walked in one run, then allowed a second run to score when he threw a wild pitch to the backstop on the fly.

He said he began feeling pain while facing his third batter, Mark Ellis. That was the only one of the first seven A's Batista retired.

The inning was so rough that the large home crowd, which was booing most of his pitches, cheered mockingly when he managed an occasional strike.

Manager John McLaren said that during a meeting at the mound in the opening inning, Batista told pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre he was fine. McLaren said that in the dugout after the inning, Batista gave the same report to the trainer.

But after Batista walked Kurt Suzuki leading off the second, he called McLaren and a trainer out to the mound. McLaren quickly summoned Cha Seung Baek from the bullpen. Batista went directly to the clubhouse with the trainer.

The Mariners soon announced their leader in wins (16) last season had a mild right groin strain. He will be reevaluated Saturday.

"He felt like if he kept going he could really pull something. That's when he called us out there," McLaren said.

Thursday, starter Jarrod Washburn got hit on the ankle with a line drive and pitched most of his five innings in pain. Wednesday, Carlos Silva got his spikes caught in the dirt of the mound on a pickoff throw and had to leave a start with tightness in the right thigh. Seattle considers both of those injuries minor enough that each should make his next start.

Erik Bedard, the ace of the battered staff that was supposed to lead Seattle into their first postseason appearance since 2001 this season, is scheduled to come off the disabled list and start Saturday night. Bedard has been on the DL since April 9 with inflammation in his left hip. Bedard has missed two starts and had a third pushed back this month.

The injuries have been troubling, but Seattle's manager pointed to other issues when discussing the Mariners' problems.

"I don't know if it's snakebit," McLaren said. "We're on the verge of being a really good ball club. We're just not there yet. We've got to do the small things. Until we do that, we're not going to be able to put long [winning] streaks together."

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press