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Mariners complete sweep of Padres

Jun 11, 2007 - 12:55 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Chris Young's dominance at Petco Park and closer Trevor Hoffman's brilliance was not enough to slow down the red-hot Seattle Mariners.

Ichiro Suzuki drove in two runs in the seventh inning and the Mariners added an unearned run in the ninth off Hoffman to complete a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 4-3 victory on Sunday.

It was the first time the Padres have been swept in a three-game series at home this season.

"Three good games, but we came out on the short end of them," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Tough ones when you lose them late. We've had our share the other way, and over the course of the season these things happen."

Seattle pushed across the winning run in the ninth against Hoffman (2-3), baseball's all-time saves leader who recorded No. 500 on Thursday night.

Willie Bloomquist led off by reaching on third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff's error, was sacrificed to second base and stole third. He scored the go-ahead run on Jose Lopez's soft ground ball to second base.

"I just had a good jump (on the stolen base)," Bloomquist said. "It was a guy I thought I could get. If I get momentum as he's lifting his leg and I know he's going to the plate, and I think I can get it, I'm going."

Hoffman indicated that he was caught off guard by the stolen base attempt, and had gone into his trademark high leg-kick to deliver the pitch.

"It's worse to have it happen that way, because you got beat mentally," Hoffman said. "Anybody can accept physical mistakes, but when they get the best of you and get the extra base without having to do anything, it's on me. I wouldn't have gone into a high leg-kick if I thought he was stealing."

J.J. Putz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 18th save. Miguel Batista (7-4) got the win with one inning of scoreless relief.

"Our guys battled the whole time," Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said. "No matter what the situation or what was going on, there was always a push there from everybody. The guys on the bench, the guys on the field, the guys in the bullpen came in and did their jobs."

Young, who had given up just two earned runs in five home starts, allowed three in this one over 6 2/3 innings. The 6-10 righthander gave up seven hits, while striking out three and not walking a batter.

"That's the way the game goes," Young said. "I made a couple of mistakes and it cost us some runs. I felt like I threw the ball pretty well. It was just little things."

Seattle, which has won 12 of 16, took an early lead when starting pitcher Felix Hernandez reached on a bunt single - his first major-league hit - to plate Jamie Burke.

San Diego answered with three runs in the fourth on a solo shot by Mike Cameron and Terrmel Sledge's two-run blast.

Hernandez finished the day allowing three runs in six innings on seven hits. The 21-year-old righthander walked one and collected six strikeouts.

"The last month or month and a half or so, we've been playing that kind of baseball," Bloomquist said. "Everybody's contributing, and we're not trying to do too much, just do their role or their job.

"When we do that, we're a pretty good team. It seems to be someone new every night getting it done."

San Diego had won 10 of 12 prior to the sweep at home, its first since August 14-17 against San Francisco last year.

"If you look back, we had a chance to win all three games," Young said. "We're not playing bad baseball by any means."