• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Putz works overtime in closing out Mariners sixth straight win

Jun 30, 2007 - 6:50 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Closer J.J. Putz continues to be lights out for the Seattle Mariners, but manager Mike Hargrove is not delighted with the way he has had to use him to save games.

Putz went 1 2/3 innings Friday night to help defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-3, and nail down his 23rd consecutive save this year and 25th straight dating to last season.

It marked the third time in the last four games that Putz has had to go more than an inning to register a save.

"We can't do that very often and I've said that before," Hargrove said. "I think that's the fourth or fifth time we've done that this year. If we want to keep J.J. effective and rested we can't go to 1 2/3 inning saves."

With Seattle leading 5-2 in the eighth, rookie Brandon Morrow and George Sherrill combined for three straight walks before Putz was called on to end the threat. Putz got Howie Clark to pop out before John McDonald drove in Aaron Hill with an field single to make the score 5-3.

Putz then struck out Alex Rios swinging to end the frame. A frustrated Rios slammed his bat across his knee, snapping it in two, reminiscent of Bo Jackson's antics.

In the ninth, Putz issued a one-out walk to Troy Glaus but got Frank Thomas, who had hit his 500th homer Thursday, to ground into a game-ending double play and record his American League-leading 23rd save and 25th straight dating to last season.

"We're trying to match up the best way we can and for the most part those guys out there (the relievers) have been doing their jobs and today was just one of those offdays," Putz said.

"The biggest thing is just having to sit down between innings and having to crank it up again after that."

Ben Broussard and Jose Guillen each drove in a pair of runs as the Seattle Mariners scored all of their runs with two outs and ran their winning streak to six games.

Broussard drove in two runs with a single in the first and Guillen added an RBI single in the third as Mariners jumped out to a 4-1 lead.

Seattle (44-33), which has won eight of nine after a season-high six game skid, is 10 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2003 season.

Lefthander Jarrod Washburn (7-6) went six innings and gave up two runs on nine hits - all singles - as he won his second consecutive game and defeated the Blue Jays for first time in his last six starts against them.

Washburn, who had been just 1-6 with a 4.60 ERA in seven starts against Toronto, left with a 5-2 lead after throwing 55 of 86 pitches for strikes.

Meanwhile Dustin McGowan (4-4), who hurled a one-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, was roughed up for eight hits and five runs in five innings to take the loss.

"He never really could get it going," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "It could have been a heck of a lot worse. A pitch here or there might have made a difference. He still stuck in there for five innings."

Seattle fell behind early but quickly answered. After the Blue Jays took a 1-0 lead on Aaron Hill's run-scoring single in the first, Broussard's two-run single in the bottom of the inning gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead.

Guillen singled with the bases loaded to drive in one run and McGowan walked Richie Sexson to force in another as Seattle extended its lead to 4-1 in the second inning.

Ichiro Suzuki lined a one-out double that rolled to the center field fence and scored on Guillen's second RBI single of the game to make it 5-1 in the fourth.

Rookie Curtis Thigpen cut the lead to 5-2 in the sixth with an RBI single for Toronto, which had won six of its last eight games.

Ichiro had a hit and scored twice for Seattle, which improved to 8-2 on its current 12-game homestand.