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Suzuki, Weaver lead Mariners to win over Rangers

Aug 24, 2007 - 5:30 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- The Texas Rangers were on the receiving end of an offensive explosion on Thursday, although one not nearly as potent as the one they delivered a night earlier.

Ichiro Suzuki's three-run double highlighted a seven-run sixth inning and Jeff Weaver threw six effective frames to win his fourth straight start as the Seattle Mariners posted a 9-4 victory over the Rangers on Thursday.

The Rangers erupted for an American League-record 30 runs and franchise-best 29 hits in a 30-3 thrashing of the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a doubleheader on Wednesday.

Weaver (6-10) made sure the Rangers did not have a repeat performance, allowing three runs and seven hits while walking one and striking out five.

"Just one of those games, they had a big inning and kind of took the sails right out of us," Frank Catalanotto said. "I think everyone might have been a little bit tired. We didn't get in until 4:30 a.m. (local time). By the time some of us got to sleep, it wasn't until six in the morning.

"I know I was dragging a little bit today, but you don't want to make excuses. But it's tough not to point at that."

Weaver said he was not thinking about the Rangers' record-setting performance.

"I can't really think about stuff when you're out there," he said. "You always know that Texas' lineup is very potent and obviously, you've seen it even tonight with some home runs, but I think more than anything, I was able to get a couple of double play balls to end the threat. And once again, Ichiro came up huge with the base-clearing double, and we came through again."

"They got 30 runs, they had a doubleheader, they came in late last night," Suzuki said through an interpreter about the Rangers, who swept a four-game series against the Mariners here in late July. "Texas is hot, so I feel bad for them."

Seattle (72-53), which has won 18 of its last 25 games, extended its lead to two games over the idle New York Yankees (71-56) in the AL wild card race and trails the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (74-53) by one game in the American League West.

"That was a huge win for us," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "We have problems in this ballpark and we get behind, and we get behind a lot, but we got the ability to come back, and we did again tonight."

Trailing, 3-1, entering the sixth, the Mariners got back a run immediately as Jose Guillen led off with a home run to left-center field against Rangers starter Kameron Loe. It was his 18th blast of the season.

One out later, Adrian Beltre singled, and an error by rookie third baseman Travis Metcalf and a hit batsman loaded the bases. Jose Lopez followed with a single to right field that scored Beltre to tie the game at 3-3.

Suzuki then drilled Loe's 100th pitch over center fielder David Murphy's head for a three-run double, which was the All-Star's third hit of the night.

"He's a pretty good hitter, isn't he?" McLaren asked. "He's an amazing guy, great bat control. We've described him so many different ways over the last few months, so there's not much more I can say, but he's a fabulous player."

Loe (6-10) exited after allowing seven runs - three earned - and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts.

"I fell behind and battled back," Loe said of Suzuki's at-bat. "I threw a good pitch he fouled off. I came back with the same pitch and he put good wood on it. It is a learning experience. I've been beating myself up over that pitch for over an hour now."

Jose Vidro greeted reliever Mike Wood by crushing the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field for a two-run homer, giving Seattle a commanding 8-3 advantage.

The Mariners jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, when Kenji Johjima hit an RBI single to center.

But the Rangers moved ahead in the third on Brad Wilkerson's two-out, two-run homer, a towering blast that hit the facade of the upper deck in right field.

An inning later, Weaver surrendered another two-out home run as rookie Jarrod Saltalamacchia - who hit a pair of blasts in Wednesday's first game - launched a solo shot to right.

"It was a pretty big hit at the time, but then the game kind of turned," Wilkerson said of his homer. "That's a pretty good ballclub over there, you got to play hard for nine innings.

"This is a great series to see where we stand as a ballclub because Seattle's fighting for a spot for the playoffs, and if we can come out here and win this series, it will show a lot for this ballclub."

Wilkerson went 4-for-4 for Texas, which has lost four of six.

"It was just one of those things where I'm taking care of mistakes at the right time," Wilkerson said.