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Beaven helps M's down Rays

Jul 22, 2012 - 11:05 PM St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Blake Beavan spun eight innings of one- run ball Sunday, lifting the Mariners to their second consecutive 2-1 victory over the Rays in the rubber match of a three-game set at Tropicana Field.

Beavan (5-6) surrendered just four hits and didn't walk a batter while striking out five to earn the victory. Tom Wilhelmsen fired a scoreless ninth to nail down his 10th save of the season.

Jesus Montero and Brendan Ryan each clubbed RBI doubles as the Mariners wrapped up a seven-game roadtrip at 5-2.

"Real good roadtrip. It's tough to win on the road," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. "The only two losses we did have were walk-offs, so tight ballgames throughout. These guys played tough."

Matt Moore (6-7) was the tough-luck loser as he fired eight strong innings of two-run ball, allowing just five hits and striking out seven without walking a batter.

Matt Joyce accounted for the Rays' only run with an RBI single in the first as the Rays dropped the final two games of this series and finished off a season- long 10-game homestand at 4-6.

"We had every opportunity (to win) the past two days," admitted Rays manager Joe Maddon. "Our pitching was good enough to permit us to win. The offense has been challenged lately. We could have, should have been better."

The Mariners wasted little time getting to Moore in the first inning as Casper Wells led off the game with a ground-rule double into the right-field corner.

Moore then made a heads-up play to get Wells at third when Ichiro Suzuki followed with a grounder back to the mound, but Suzuki promptly stole second and third before crossing the plate on Montero's double to center field to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The Rays answered in the bottom half as Ben Zobrist ripped a two-out double that bounced off the first-base bag and Joyce followed with a single to right to score Zobrist and knot the game at 1-1.

The M's regained the lead in the second when Michael Saunders smacked a one- out single, stole second and finally scored on Ryan's two-out double to left to provide Seattle with a 2-1 lead.

Both offenses fell stagnant from there as neither team moved a runner into scoring position over the next six innings until the Rays mounted a charge in the bottom of the eighth.

Desmond Jennings reached first on Ryan's fielding error to start the frame before finding second on Jose Molina's fielder's choice groundout.

Jennings then moved to third on a groundout from Elliot Johnson, but B.J. Upton popped out to second base to end the inning and leave the game-tying run stranded 90 feet away.

Wilhelmsen retired the first two Rays in the ninth before serving up a double to Joyce and issuing a walk to Jeff Keppinger.

The right-hander settled in though, as he got pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui to pop out weakly to shortstop to end the game.

Game Notes

The Mariners begin a 10-game homestand on Monday as they welcome the New York Yankees for a three-game set...The Rays head out on a nine-game roadtrip that starts with a three-game set in Baltimore on Tuesday...All three games in this series were decided by one run...Tampa Bay Recalled pitcher Brandon Gomes from Triple-A Durham and optioned pitcher Cesar Ramos to Durham...49 of Seattle's 97 games have been decided by one or two runs this season.