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Mariners top hapless Twins, halt skid at 6

May 17, 2011 - 6:08 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Adam Kennedy had a solo home run and finished with two RBI as the Seattle Mariners topped the Minnesota Twins, 5-2, in a matchup between two slumping teams.

Carlos Peguero also had a solo shot while Justin Smoak and Jack Cust both drove in a run for the Mariners, who halted a six-game losing skid.

Rookie starter Michael Pineda (5-2) pitched seven scoreless innings for Seattle, allowing just three hits and striking out seven.

"Pineda set the tone," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "We were more consistent offensively throughout the course of the game tonight and that was good to see. We created opportunities for ourselves and took advantage of those opportunities, but Michael set the tone out there."

Danny Valencia knocked in a run for the Twins, who have lost nine straight and fall to 12-27 overall, their worst start since they began the 1995 campaign 11-27.

Scott Baker (2-3) was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits while fanning eight.

"As well as (Pineda) was throwing the ball I didn't have a lot of room for error," Baker said, "but it was still a little frustrating because was a couple of occasions I felt like I beat myself instead of them beating me. It's unfortunate, but I battled the best I could and I just came up short."

Up 5-0 heading into the final inning, the Mariners bullpen and fielding errors helped put Minnesota on the board.

Jason Kubel started the inning by reaching on an error by Adam Kennedy, who had just shifted to first base from second. Aaron Laffey then got Justin Morneau to fly out and Wedge brought in Jamey Wright, who immediately served up a Michael Cuddyer single.

The game could have ended on Delmon Young's soft grounder to third, but Chone Figgins tossed the ball into right field, allowing Kubel to round third and score. Cuddyer then touched home on Valencia's force out to second.

Wright, though, got Ben Revere to ground out and end the game.

Figgins had a one-out single in the first inning and scored on Cust's double, which soared over Kubel's head in right field, for a 1-0 lead.

During the third inning, Smoak ripped a double into right field to bring around Ichiro Suzuki.

The Mariners got back-to-back homers with two outs in the sixth to create a 4-0 cushion. Kennedy easily cleared the fence in right field, and Peguero ripped a line drive that barely flew over the fence in the corner in right.

Kennedy got his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth, pushing Brendan Ryan home.

Game Notes

Smoak was removed in the eighth inning for precautionary reasons after rolling his right ankle...It's the longest losing streak for the Twins since September 1998, when they dropped 10 in a row...Pineda has gone at least six innings in all eight of his starts.