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Sheffield's grand slam lifts Tigers over Mariners

Jul 14, 2007 - 6:10 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Gary Sheffield helped keep the Detroit Tigers at the top of the division standings.

Sheffield hit a grand slam and Jeremy Bonderman pitched seven effective innings to lead the Tigers to a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Friday.

Detroit has won six of its last seven contests and remains one-half game ahead of the Cleveland Indians in the American League Central Division.

Sheffield blasted a 2-2 offering from Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn (8-7) over the left-center field wall in the third inning to give the Tigers a 4-1 advantage. The 38-year-old slugger has three home runs and nine RBI in his last six games.

"I think I hit a changeup," Sheffield said. "He had fooled me earlier on that pitch in my first at-bat and I am just glad I had seen it. He left a changeup out over the plate and I got good wood on it."

After Washburn hit Brandon Inge with a pitch, Ryan Raburn drew a walk and Marcus Thames singled, setting the stage for Sheffield's 12th career grand slam.

"One of the best RBI guys in the last 10 years hit one out, and that's basically what the game was," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "Wash did a nice job. He kept us in the game and made a bad pitch to Sheffield, and Sheffield is an RBI machine."

The blast by Sheffield was all the run support Bonderman (10-1) needed. The 24-year-old righthander yielded three runs and six hits with five strikeouts.

Bonderman overcame solo home runs by Jose Guillen and Adrian Beltre to pick up his 10th victory in his last 12 starts.

"You know what, I'm just trying to go out and pitch," Bonderman said. "These guys have been putting up some runs behind me. If I go out and give us quality innings and keep the score down, we're going to win."

Bobby Seay and Zach Miner combined to pitch a scoreless eighth before Todd Jones worked around two hits in the ninth to record his 23rd save of the season and 100th since 2005.

The Tigers, who snapped the Mariners' four-game winning streak, continue to impress on the road, winning 13 of their last 16 contests away from Comerica Park.

Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt committed his major league-leading 20th error to help Detroit to an unearned run and a 5-2 advantage in the sixth. Betancourt made an errant throw on a grounder by Carlos Guillen, who later scored after singles by Ivan Rodriguez and Inge.

Sean Casey hit just his second homer of the year, a blast into the right field seats off Seattle reliever Brandon Morrow to open a 6-2 lead for Detroit in the seventh inning.

Washburn saw his three-game winning streak come to an end as he was tagged for five runs - four earned - seven hits and three walks in six innings.

"He's (Sheffield) a great hitter," Washburn said. "He's one of those guys that if you make a mistake to him, nine times out of 10 he's going to make you pay for it. He doesn't miss mistakes."

The Mariners' lefthander, who had allowed only three runs in his previous three starts, suffered his sixth consecutive loss to the Tigers.

Seattle opened a short-lived 1-0 lead in the second, when Guillen powered his 11th homer of the season over the center field wall.

Despite the loss, Beltre continued to hit the ball well, recording three hits. The slugger is 16-for-28 with four homers and 14 RBI in his last seven games.