• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mariners club four homers, beat Twins

Aug 21, 2007 - 5:05 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - In a month known for its heat, Raul Ibanez is the hottest thing going.

Ibanez hit a pair of home runs and his teammates added two more as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Minnesota Twins, 9-4, on Monday.

Horacio Ramirez (8-4) started and won for the third time in his last four decisions thanks to the Mariners tying a season high with four homers - all off Twins starter Matt Garza.

"They swallowed him (Garza) up before he got going," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He tried to make some pitches inside, but every time he did it and came back over the plate, he left it up and he got hit really hard. It was one of those nights where the fastball wasn't moving a lot, it was out over the plate and they were crushing it."

Six days earlier in Seattle, Ramirez was the loser as the Twins, behind Garza, claimed an 11-3 victory. But Garza was treated much worse by the Mariners this time around, with Ibanez leading the way.

Ibanez went 3-for-5 with two homers, three runs scored and three RBI, giving him an AL-leading nine home runs in August.

"I just see it, put a good swing on it and stay through the ball," Ibanez said. "I think there has been good pitches to hit, I'm just not missing them (now)."

Garza (2-4) was pulled after a career-low 2 1/3 innings in games he has started, allowing seven runs and nine hits and surrendering a career-high four home runs. After harmlessly recording two outs to start the game, Garza ran into a ton of trouble.

Jose Guillen hit a two-out single before Ibanez homered to left field to start the scoring. Adrian Beltre followed with a single and Richie Sexson added two more runs with a 413-foot blast to center field.

"Richie is coming around," Seattle manager John McLaren said. "It makes you feel good to know the guys who work so hard and now it's starting to pay off for him."

Garza escaped the second inning unscathed thanks to a brilliant barehanded play by shortstop Nick Punto with runners on second and third with two outs, but he wasn't as fortunate in the third inning.

Ibanez led off the frame with his second home run and Beltre singled. After Sexson struck out, Kenji Johjima homered to end Garza's night.

"They came out swinging and I didn't have anything for them," Garza said. "I had fastballs up tonight and that's what they were looking for. They weren't looking for anything other than that."

The four home runs allowed by Garza tied a team high for a Twins starter this season, and was one shy of the most homers allowed by Minnesota in a game all year.

The seven runs allowed fell just one short of the most allowed by a Minnesota starter in 2007, and Garza's 2 1/3 innings was the shortest outing by a Twins starter since Ramon Ortiz lasted just one on May 15 at Cleveland.

Ramirez, meanwhile, cruised through the first seven innings. He allowed an RBI double to Mike Redmond in the second inning and a sacrifice fly in the sixth before Jose Lopez's fielding mistake cost him in the eighth.

With Joe Mauer on first base and one out, Torii Hunter grounded to Lopez at second base. Rather than flip the ball to Yuniesky Betancourt to start the inning-ending double play, he opted to attempt a tag on Mauer. But the Twins' catcher froze in the basepath, and with Hunter sprinting down the first base line, Lopez tagged Mauer with an empty glove while throwing to first too late to get Hunter.

Justin Morneau followed with an RBI double and Michael Cuddyer grounded out to bring home another run, giving the Twins more runs than they had scored in their previous three games combined. Lopez heard about the play from McLaren in the dugout.

"You can't let a play like that happen," McLaren said. "When I get on somebody, I want to be consistent. I don't want to belittle him or embarrass him. He tried to do too much and got caught in between."

Ramirez was charged with four runs and nine hits in 7 1/3 innings. He has allowed three or more earned runs in his last six starts with a 9.00 ERA over that stretch. But McLaren was pleased with his performance.

"He threw strikes, had differential in his pitches, located his fastball and that was very encouraging," McLaren said. "It's great for not only the team, but also for him. He needed that for his confidence."

Ramirez has won each of his last two road starts and improved to 2-3 with an 11.57 ERA in seven road starts this season. Ramirez changed his delivery between starts, no longer bringing the ball over his head before he pitches.

"Hopefully this is the start of a good run for me," Ramirez said. "The most important thing for me, I think, was definitely the mechanical change I made."

Cuddyer drove in a pair of runs and Mauer went 2-for-4 with two runs for Minnesota.