• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Braves squeak past Mariners

Jun 29, 2011 - 6:37 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Brian McCann went 4-for-5 and hit the tie- breaking two-run single in the seventh inning, and Atlanta held on for a 5-4 win over Seattle in the middle portion of a three-game series.

Tommy Hanson came off the 15-day disabled list and fanned eight batters over six innings. Hanson (9-4), who had been out since June 13 due to right shoulder tendinitis, allowed six hits and three runs to win his fourth consecutive start.

"Tommy hung in there for six innings and we were able to get the lead and hold it," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "For him not to pitch as strong as we've seen him and to still get the win is outstanding."

McCann, on the heels of a three-hit performance in a 3-1 win Monday, has seven RBI in his last six games. Dan Uggla homered for Atlanta, which has won seven of its last nine contests.

Ichiro Suzuki and Jack Cust homered, but the Mariners faltered for the sixth time in eight contests.

Michael Pineda (7-5) was charged with four hits, five walks and four earned runs over 6 1/3 innings.

The Braves had runners thrown out at home in the eighth and ninth innings, but managed to squeeze out the victory. Brendan Ryan singled off Craig Kimbrel with one out in the ninth and went to second on a wild pitch. Adam Kennedy was caught looking at a third strike and Kimbrel nailed down his 22nd save when Justin Smoak popped out to shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

Suzuki, who cut down Jason Heyward trying to score on a Chipper Jones fly out in the ninth, drilled his first homer of the year leading off the bottom of the initial inning.

Cust's RBI double made it 2-0 in the second and he homered to right with one out in the fourth.

Uggla homered the next inning and the Braves got within a run in the sixth when a Smoak fielding error scored Heyward.

Pineda walked the bases full in the seventh before Aaron Laffey took over on the mound. Jordan Schafer's single to right tied the game, and after Heyward fanned McCann's base hit to right gave Atlanta a 5-3 lead.

"He just didn't have the command we've seen him have," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said of Pineda. "He battled, he gave us everything he had like he does, but it just wasn't as crisp as we've seen him as the game wore on."

The Mariners were able to push one across in the bottom half, but could have had a pair of runners in scoring position if Kennedy hadn't been caught stealing. As it turned out, Dustin Ackley's single to center plated Suzuki, putting runners at first and second.

Back-up catcher Chris Gimenez, who was playing despite a strained oblique, struck out, to cap the inning.

Game Notes

Mariners starting catcher Miguel Olivo left the game with cramps in the fourth inning and was replaced by Gimenez...The Braves optioned RHP Jairo Asencio to Triple-A Gwinnett to make room for Hanson...Ackley has reached base safely, via hit or walk, in the first 11 games of his major league career...The Mariners, who left the bases loaded in the second inning, stranded nine men on base.