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Batista solid, bullpen hangs on as Mariners beat White Sox

Aug 18, 2007 - 7:02 AM By Paul Lowenberg PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Miguel Batista was solid through six innings and Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer as the Seattle Mariners withstood a late grand slam to defeat the slumping Chicago White Sox, 5-4, on Friday night.

Adrian Beltre had three hits and drove in a run for Seattle, which avoided losing three straight for the first time since July 21-26.

Batista (13-8) improved on his career-high win total by limiting the White Sox to three runs and three hits with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. However, a bout of wildness nearly cost his team dearly.

The righthander held Chicago scoreless for six innings but left with a 5-0 lead after walking the bases loaded with one out in the seventh.

"Miggy was great," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "He's been an innings eater and really, really good for us."

George Sherrill came in to face rookie Danny Richar, who was mired in a 2-for-24 slump. Richar deposited Sherrill's 2-2 offering into the right field seats for his first major league home run, which trimmed Chicago's deficit to 5-4.

"My first home run was a grand slam and that was a good feeling, but it would have been more fun if we would have won the game," said Richar, a 23-year-old infielder from the Dominican Republic who joined the White Sox from Class AAA Charlotte on July 28.

"I was ready for any pitch. He threw me a couple of fastballs, but I wasn't looking for a special pitch when he threw me a fastball down the middle, so I hit it pretty good."

Rookie Brandon Morrow got the first two outs of the eighth before closer J.J. Putz worked the final 1 1/3 innings for his 35th save in 38 chances.

"We got us a win, but I wasn't too happy about the sequence we used on the grand slam," McLaren said. "That was a little too close for comfort."

Ibanez hit his seventh home run in his last 10 games and 13th of the year, a two-run shot in the first inning that gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead.

"I'm really just trying to focus on each at-bat and not think about what's happened in the past," Ibanez said of his recent hot streak.

Jose Vidro drove in a pair of runs for the Mariners (67-52), who maintained a one-half game lead over the New York Yankees (68-54) for the American League wild card lead and moved within three games of the first-place Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (71-50) in the AL West Division.

Meanwhile, Jose Contreras (6-15) suffered his eighth straight loss to take over the major league lead in the category. The 35-year-old Contreras was making his second start since being used briefly in a relief role and was tagged for five runs - four earned - and nine hits in seven innings.

"Jose threw the ball well," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He made one mistake. It was the ball up to Ibanez, and he hit it out. Everything is going wrong for the kid right now. I like what I see. His velocity is up, he's throwing a bunch of strikes and he was good, but unfortunately, they scored five runs."

Contreras hurt himself in the third, when he threw away Ichiro Suzuki's drag bunt single, allowing the speedy outfielder to advance all the way to third. Vidro's sacrifice fly scored him for a 3-0 advantage.

Seattle added two more runs in the fifth, when Vidro hit his second sacrifice fly to score Yuniesky Betancourt and Beltre's high chopper in front of the plate allowed Jose Guillen to race home from second to make it 5-0.

Darin Erstad walked twice and scored a run for Chicago, which has lost a season-high six straight.