Filed at 2:32 a.m. ET
SEATTLE (AP) -- The bullpen committee forced upon the Mariners by J.J. Putz's injury is apparently going to include anyone -- including a starting pitcher.
Carlos Silva allowed three hits and one run in his Seattle debut, Jose Lopez hit a three-run homer and No. 5 starter Miguel Batista got his first save in three years to close out the Mariners' 4-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.
Sean Green walked Tuesday hero Josh Hamilton on four pitches to begin the ninth inning. Batista then made his surprising entrance, hours after All-Star closer Putz went on the 15-day disabled list with a ribcage injury.
Batista, Seattle's leader with 16 wins last season before he got shoved to the back of the rotation by the arrival of Silva and new ace Erik Bedard, quickly got Hank Blalock and Milton Bradley to fly out. Then Frank Catalanotto grounded out for Batista's first save since Sept. 27, 2005, at Boston.
The Mariners were laughed at for signing Silva to $48 million, four-year contract to be their No. 3 starter. He looked worth that steep price in his Seattle debut.
Silva (1-0) showed off his usual sinkerball for which he is known from getting ground balls, plus a new cutter he learned from pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre a few weeks ago. They -- and just about everything else -- worked.
Silva didn't allow a hit from Ian Kinsler's leadoff double until his only real blemish, a home run by former Mariner Ben Broussard leading off the sixth. Broussard's first home run for Texas plopped onto the top of the right-field fence and bounced past to make it 4-1. It came on an 0-2 that Silva left up.
Seattle's new top triumvirate of Bedard, Felix Hernandez and Silva have allowed two earned runs combined in three starts.
Jason Jennings (0-1) allowed four runs on five hits in five innings, giving up Lopez's three-run shot with two outs in the fifth.
Lopez, the No. 2 hitter, has five RBIs in three games. He was an All-Star in 2006 while batting second during the first half of '06 then slumped for a season and a half while at the bottom of the
order. Notes: Batista saved 31 games for the Blue Jays in 2005. ... Texas still hasn't won an opening series since 2001. ... Betancourt, the No. 9 hitter, is 6-for-11 (.545) through three games.