Jesus Montero deserves shot to help Mariners’ up-and-down offense

Jesus Montero is hitting .328 with 14 home runs, 67 RBIs and a league-leading 110 hits in 83 games this season for Triple-A Tacoma. (AP)

I knew the Mariners would win Tuesday night. You probably did, too. I didn’t think that when they were down 3-0, just going into the game. Why? Because they always win after you’ve stuck a fork in them for the 18th time this season.

After Monday’s 12-5 loss to the Tigers when Mariners pitchers basically threw batting practice while giving up 19 hits, they looked like dead meat again with the second-worst record in the American League.

But they followed that up with a rousing 7-6, 11-inning win Tuesday night as Robinson Cano delivered a walk-off RBI single off the wall. Cano is hitting .400 this month, showing signs of ending a season-long slump, one reason to hang on to a shred of hope.

The cynic in me says the Mariners will lose this afternoon because that’s what they do, back and forth, up and down, from one game to the next. They are so all over the place, I take Dramamine before every game to combat my Mariners motion sickness. The players should, too, looking at a different lineup every day. It’s topsy-turvy baseball, not winning baseball, that’s for sure.

To be honest, I was never in a hurry for Hisashi Iwakuma to return from his injury. I don’t want the man to be in pain, I just don’t want him in the rotation anymore. He was fantastic for a long time, but he isn’t fantastic now. In fact, he appears to be more of a fifth starter at this point, and the Mariners already had a pretty good one in Roenis Elias.

We’ll see how that plays out, and maybe I’m wrong, maybe Iwakuma will find the stuff and location that made him a Cy Young candidate two years ago. If not, I hope the Mariners don’t treat him like Dustin Ackley, waiting and waiting and waiting for him to come around.

Offensively, the Mariners had 15 hits Tuesday night, but I’m guessing they’ll be handcuffed today by Anibal Sanchez, who had a no-hitter through 7 1/3 innings in his last start.

Mark Trumbo went 2 for 4 Tuesday night, which is a positive development for the right-handed slugger but a negative one for Jesus Montero. Trumbo blocks Montero from joining the major-league team. I would never openly – but perhaps privately – root against a player from the home team. I’d just like to see Montero get a shot for two reasons:

1) He’s earned it.

2) Generally speaking, the Mariners can’t hit, and Montero can.

Tuesday night in an 8-7 win over Fresno, Montero had two triples and four RBIs in. That’s right, two triples in one game for Montero. Last year when he was overweight and ran like a penguin, you never thought you’d see two triples in one lifetime from Montero. But get this – he has five triples this year.

Montero is hitting .538 in his last 10 games (21 for 39) and has 110 hits this year, the far-and-away Pacific Coast League leader. The second-place guy, Nashville’s Jason Pridie, has 94. For the year, Montero is averaging .328 with 14 home runs and 67 RBIs. And he’s still in Tacoma?

You know what I’d do, which makes little sense, but I’d do it anyway? I’d bring him up and designate for assignment your choice of Ackley and Trumbo, or how about this? Send Jesus Sucre back to Tacoma and make the much better Jesus the backup catcher.

In 2012, Montero was the Mariners’ starting catcher. I don’t remember him being great, but I don’t remember him being horrible, either. You want horrible? We had that with Miguel Olivo.

If the Mariners can tell Brad Miller he’s not good enough to be a major-league shortstop and then change their mind and bring him back to be a major-league shortstop again, they can do the same thing with Montero in a backup catching role.

Would you take a passed ball and two stolen bases by the opposition in exchange for a double and a home run and extra life in the lineup? Sucre has one hit all season. Montero would double that in one game.

The Mariners were talking about Miller being a play-everywhere guy, so why not turn Montero into the ultimate utility man. Give him one game a week as a catcher, one game a week as a first baseman (Logan Morrison needs a break from time to time) and two or three games a week as a designated hitter.

Shoot holes in that whole thing if you want, and maybe he’d be terrible. But what if he isn’t? What if he tears it up? There’s a chance that could happen, too.

At this point, what have you got to lose?