• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hitting streak ends for Ichiro; Mariners defeat Rangers

Jun 3, 2007 - 7:07 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Miguel Batista and the Seattle Mariners didn't need Ichiro Suzuki to extend his hitting streak to take care of the Texas Rangers.

Batista pitched 6 1/3 effective innings and Jose Guillen hit his 150th career homer as the Mariners posted a 5-3 victory over the Rangers on Saturday.

"Tonight we got us a win," said acting manager John McLaren, who filled in for Mike Hargrove while he attended his daughter's high school graduation. "It wasn't an easy win, but we did it."

Yuniesky Betancourt drove in two runs and Kenji Johjima had two hits for Seattle, which saw Ichiro's hitting streak end at 25 games. The six-time All-Star and 2001 American League MVP had two groundouts, popped out and reached first base on a fielder's choice in his four at-bats.

"I'm definitely not happy about it," said Ichiro through an interpreter.

Ichiro, who set a club record with a hit in his 25th consecutive game on Friday, had posted 17 multiple-hit games during the sixth 20-plus game streak of his career. He batted .411 (46-for-112) during his run.

Batista (6-4) allowed two runs, five hits and two walks to record his third straight victory. The veteran righthander, who struck out five, is 3-3 lifetime vs. Texas.

"Tonight was a night that I needed to last a little longer, so I was trying to be more careful," said Batista, who threw 113 pitches. "We needed a win. We are playing more consistently and winning series more often."

Batista was cruising through six innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

After recording the first out of the inning, Batista surrendered a single to Ian Kinsler and a walk to Gerald Laird before he was relieved Eric O'Flaherty. However after striking out Ramon Vazquez, O'Flaherty walked a batter and hit Michael Young to plate Kinsler from third base.

Rookie Brandon Morrow replaced O'Flaherty and proceeded to walk two more batters to make it 5-3 before striking out Frank Catalanotto to end the inning. The three Seattle pitchers threw 49 pitches in the frame.

"We were one pitch away from blowing it open in the seventh inning, but we just couldn't get it done," Texas manager Ron Washington said.

Closer J.J. Putz pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing only a solo homer to Mark Teixeira in the ninth, to earn his 13th consecutive save.

"We don't like going to him that early in the game, but tonight I felt like we had to do it," McLaren said.

With the Mariners leading, 2-0, in the sixth inning, Guillen helped open the lead even further. The 31-year old Dominican belted the first pitch he saw from Kameron Loe over the left field wall for his seventh homer of the season. Johjima added an RBI double and Betancourt had a sacrifice fly later in the frame to increase the lead to five.

Betancourt added a run-scoring double in the second to extend his own hitting streak to 14 games, now currently the longest streak in the majors..

Loe (1-5) surrendered five runs, eight hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings. The righthander, who struck out two, has not won since his first start in 2007.

"When Loe had to make pitches from the first through the fifth, he did well," Washington said. "And then in the sixth, he left a slider up to Guillen, and they ended up putting three runs on the board."

Catcher Gerald Laird said it was not a typical Loe performance.

"It was one of those things where it's uncommon for him to walk guys to lead off innings, and tonight he just couldn't get that first guy to do something," Laird said.

Kinsler and Vazquez each had two hits for the Rangers, who have lost three of four and are just 2-5 vs. the Mariners this season.