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Guillen lifts Mariners to walk-off victory

Sep 15, 2007 - 5:59 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Jose Guillen drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners edged the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 2-1, on Friday night.

After leading off the ninth with a single off reliever Gary Glover (5-5), Ichiro Suzuki advanced to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run base hit by Adrian Beltre.

Raul Ibanez followed with a slow grounder to shortstop Josh Wilson, who held the ball as the runners advanced, loading the bases for Guillen.

Guillen capitalized by lifting a sacrifice fly to right field, plating Suzuki as the Mariners notched their third straight win.

"It was a great win and that was a great at-bat," Guillen said. "I haven't had an at-bat like that in a while. I had to come through in that situation. I don't know where I was going to put my head if I didn't come through in that situation."

Glover said it was a new experience for him.

"It's definitely not sitting real well with me and I'm sure it's not sitting real well with a lot of other people in this clubhouse," Glover said. "I've never had to walk off the field like that before and I never want to have to do that again."

Closer J.J. Putz (4-1) pitched a perfect top of the ninth to pick up the victory.

"We're starting to get some hits when we have to," Putz said of his team's resurgence. "Getting that win against Oakland and then these first two are huge. We are not going to just lay down. We're going to fight to the very end."

Seattle (78-68) remained 5 1/2 games back of the New York Yankees (84-63) in the American League wild card race and climbed within 7 1/2 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (86-61) in the AL West Division.

Mariners starter Felix Hernandez allowed one run and six hits in 7 2/3 innings but was unable to earn his career-high 13th victory. The righthander struck out eight and walked one.

Hernandez had faced just two batters over the minimum before Jonny Gomes led off the eighth with a base hit to left. Two outs later, Jorge Velandia belted a double over the head of center fielder Suzuki to tie the game at 1-1.

"I felt pretty good today and it was a great game for both sides," Hernandez said. "The other pitcher pitched pretty good, too. I hung a slider to Velandia and they had moved the outfielder (Suzuki) a little bit away. It was just bad luck, but we won the game."

Devil Rays starter James Shields matched Hernandez's strong effort, giving up just a run and four hits while striking out five and walking two in eight innings. Shields faced just nine batters over his final three innings before being relieved by Glover to start the ninth.

"Shields pitched a great game," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "That was a classic matchup, and they won the bullpen battle tonight. It's unfortunate, but it was well-pitched."

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Jose Vidro doubled off the right field wall, advanced on Kenji Johjima's bunt single and scored on a double-play grounder by Willie Bloomquist, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead.