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Mariners edge sliding Twins

Aug 27, 2008 - 7:04 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Ryan Rowland-Smith turned in a solid start and Jose Lopez drove in the winning run to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.

Rowland-Smith (3-2) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out five before turning it over to Roy Corcoran, who pitched the final two innings en route to his first career save.

"It's a good feeling for the whole team in here. It's been a rough year and everything and it's exciting," Corcoran said. "The save does mean a lot to me because it's been up and down for the last four or five years. To get out there and finally get that one under my belt, I can handle that, that's a good feeling."

Minnesota tied the game at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the sixth. But in the bottom of the frame, Lopez put the Mariners back on top with an RBI single to center field that scored Adrian Beltre.

"I really just tried to get after them," Rowland-Smith said. "I wanted to really have a good performance today, especially after what happened in the last time in Minnesota. I did get frustrated in the sixth inning. I had the two-run lead and then gave up those two runs got to me a little bit.

"But we did get some timely hitting, some really good hitting today. It felt like it was a good team effort all around. Offense, great defense and then we had Roy (Corcoran) coming in and getting through the meat of that order was a pretty big deal."

Scott Baker (7-4) yielded three runs and 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Twins (74-58), who lost their fourth straight and fell two games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox (76-56) in the American League Central. Minnesota also dropped 2 1/2 games behind Boston (76-55) in the AL wild card race.

"Baker did a super job tonight," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "He got us deep into the game. Gave us a good game and was able to get out of his jams."

Baker kept the game close but did not get much help as the Twins fell to 2-4 on their 14-game road trip. Minnesota went 7-2 on its most recent homestand but now will have to chase down Chicago and Boston on the road as the upcoming Republican National Convention is set to be held in Minneapolis.

"Obviously after you tie the ballgame by puting two runs up (6th Inning), you'd like to go out there and put up a zero. I just didn't do it," Baker said. "I felt like I had pretty good stuff tonight, just made some good pitches and they got some hits and made some bad pitches and they did. You know, but you see these guys three times, you're not going to fool them. I basically comes down to executing pitches. Some I executed and some I didn't."

Jeff Clement put Seattle on top in the second with a two-run single. Rowland-Smith made the lead stand until the sixth, when the Twins scored on a double play and a solo home run by Randy Ruiz.

It was the first career homer for Ruiz, who was named the International League Rookie of the Year earlier Tuesday.