• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Late outburst carries Mariners past Twins

Aug 22, 2007 - 4:23 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) - The Seattle Mariners collected 18 hits off the Minnesota Twins pitching staff on Tuesday, but still couldn't breathe easy until the final inning.

Guillen's hard slide into second base on Raul Ibanez's eighth-inning grounder allowed two insurance runs two score and opened the floodgates for two more as the Mariners topped the Minnesota Twins, 7-2, to improve to a season-high 19 games above .500.

Jarrod Washburn snapped a streak of three consecutive losses and earned his first win since July 4 as Seattle won its fifth straight contest. The Mariners will go for a three-game sweep of Minnesota on Wednesday.

"That was good, hard-nosed baseball," Seattle manager John McLaren said. "We went about two months talking about Ichiro Suzuki's game and how he prepares for the game and what he means to the team. It seems like the last two weeks we've been talking about Guillen. I think it's just his personality."

Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson hit back-to-back homers off Minnesota starter Scott Baker in the second inning to give the Mariners a lead they would not relinquish. But Seattle's offense certainly made things interesting.

After going 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position through seven innings and leaving 11 baserunners stranded, the Mariners finally came through in the eighth.

Ichiro Suzuki singled, Jose Vidro walked and Jose Guillen was hit by a pitch to load the bases off reliever Juan Rincon with one out in the frame.

Lefthanded reliever Dennys Reyes came in to face Raul Ibanez and did his job, inducing a ground ball to second base. But Twins shortstop Nick Punto lost the ball from second baseman Alexi Casilla as he tried to make a jumping throw for a double play, allowing Ichiro to score on the fielder's choice and Vidro to come home on an error.

"It's part of my game," Guillen said. "This is the time of the year you always have to give everything you've got because you're in a pennant race and pushing to go to the playoffs. Some of these kids learn how important it is to take those extra bases and go in hard because you put a lot of pressure on the infield, outfield, everybody. This game isn't all about hitting home runs. You've just got to play smart."

"He just went in hard and that's what disrupted Nicky," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The guy is coming in hard and disrupted the play, obviously, but that's a play that we've got a make. If you want to win the baseball game, that's a double play we've got to make."

Seattle followed with two more runs on Beltre's double and Kenji Johjima's single off reliever Pat Neshek, sending the Twins to their third loss in four games.

After going 0-4 in his previous seven starts, Washburn (9-10) allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts in six innings to avenge a loss to Minnesota in his previous start. However, some of the credit goes to the Twins' anemic offense.

Minnesota has scored only 18 runs in its last 10 home games, topping three runs just once in that stretch. After going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday, the Twins are now 6-for-51 with runners in scoring position in their last six games.

"When you do get in scoring position you put so much pressure on yourself," Minnesota's Michael Cuddyer said. "It's like a snowball effect. You want to get it done so bad and you try so hard that it's almost putting too much pressure on yourself. I think that's what we've been doing lately and why we haven't been successful in those situations."

Minnesota's lack of clutch hitting rubbed off on the Mariners early on, but Seattle did get a two-out RBI double from Vidro in the sixth inning to take a 3-0 advantage.

Yuniesky Betancourt hit a one-out single in the sixth-inning off Baker (6-6), who then got Suzuki to hit a soft grounder to second. But Ichiro hustled down the line to avoid an inning-ending double play, then scored two pitches later on Vidro's drive to right field.

"There were two key plays tonight - Ichiro beat that double play and I drove him home with a double, then the double play that Guillen slid hard into second base and they didn't turn and then we opened the game up," Vidro said. "Those were two big plays that you don't see in the paper the next day, but for us in here, we appreciate them. There's nothing wrong with playing hard, clean baseball."

Prior to the big eighth inning, Washburn (9-10) needed the extra run.

He allowed only a walk through the first three innings and only a pair of hits through five frames before the Twins started their comeback.

Alexi Casilla got things started with a one out single, followed by a walk to Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter's single to load the bases. Justin Morneau, who entered the game 3-for-9 in his career against Washburn, fouled out to Beltre at third base for the second out, but Cuddyer laced a 3-2 pitch to center field to score a pair of runs.

Washburn recovered and retired Jason Kubel on a grounder to second with runners on the corners to get out of the jam. Brandon Morrow and George Sherrill combined on three scoreless innings to preserve Washburn's win.

"When it starts getting attention from other places other than my head, then you know it's been too long," Washburn said. "When you guys start writing about how long it's been since I won, then it becomes an issue. Obviously you like to get that out of the way to give you guys something else to write about."

Baker's final line wasn't as bad as it could have been. The righthander allowed three runs on a season-high 14 hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. He lost his second straight decision while allowing more than one earned run for just the second time in his last five starts.

Vidro and Sexson reached base four times each while Ichiro had three hits, two runs scored and a stolen base for the Mariners.

Hunter and Casilla both had a pair of hits for the Twins, who remained 6 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the American League Central.