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Mariners beat up on Braves

Jun 21, 2008 - 3:49 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The Seattle Mariners made Jim Riggleman's managerial debut a good one.

Jose Lopez had three hits and drove in four runs and Adrian Beltre plated three to lead the Mariners to a 10-2 rout over the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a three-game interleague set on Friday.

Raul Ibanez collected three hits and drove in a run and pinch hitter Reed Johnson plated the go-ahead run for the Mariners, who improved to 31-24 in interleague play on the road.

"It was a nice win and a better feeling than we've had lately," Riggleman said. "We had some good at-bats, we were patient."

Seattle (26-47), which entered the season a contender in the weak American League West Division, limped out of the gate this season and sported the worst record in the majors entering Friday's tilt against the Braves.

Their poor play and locker room discord forced management to make a managerial change on Thursday's off-day, firing skipper John McLaren and replacing him with Riggleman, who has had previous experience managing the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres.

"We got a new manager and won the first game on the road," Lopez said. "I think everybody relaxed. Today was a hot day. The weather changed. New ballpark for hitting and everybody relaxed and we won the game."

However, things did not start well for Riggleman.

Lefthander Erik Bedard, who was acquired to be Seattle's ace, was forced to leave the game with back spasms after scattering two hits over the first three frames.

"I couldn't even walk down (to the clubhouse)," said Bedard, who will be re-evaluated Saturday. "They were helping me on each side. Some guys (are sidelined) a couple of days, some a week. We'll see."

Atlanta jumped all over reliever Roy Corcoran one frame later. Corcoran issued one-out walks to Chipper Jones and Mark Teixeira. Omar Infante, who robbed Beltre of a homer in the second, followed with a single up the middle to plate Jones before Brian McCann singled to load the bases.

But the righthander limited the damage by inducing Jeff Francouer to ground into a double play to end the threat. Atlanta matinee-idol Francoeur is batting just .239 (17-for-71) with one homer in bases-loaded situations.

"It's frustrating for me," Francoeur said. "I had a chance (to plate) some runs, but I can't hit with the bases loaded right now. I had a chance to break the game open."

Seattle tied the contest in the sixth when Beltre plated Ibanez with a double off Atlanta starter Jorge Campillo (2-2) before breaking the game open one frame later.

Willie Bloomquist drew a leadoff walk before scoring on Johnson's double. Campillo issued an intentional walk to Ichiro Suzuki before giving way to Atlanta reliever Jeff Bennett. Lopez extended the lead to 3-1 with a single before Beltre capped the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Lopez put the exclamation point on Seattle's night, smacking a bases-loaded double in the eighth and scoring on a double by Ibanez.

"I'll take it," Lopez said. "My first two at-bats (I didn't get a hit). But I got three in a row. ... We've struggled with runners in scoring position. Today, we got all things, sacrifice flies, moving the runners. It's real good. It's really important for the team."

But Seattle's new skipper is taking the Mariners' season high-tying 15-hit outburst in stride.

"We can't get two excited about one game," Riggleman said.

Ryan Rowland-Smith (1-1) walked one in 1 2/3 scoreless frames to notch his second career victory.

Campillo allowed four runs and eight hits, walked three and struck out two over 6 2/3 frames in a strange night in Atlanta.

Prior to the contest, the Braves unveiled a 40-foot cow above the 755 Club in left field on AARP night at Turner Field. The giant cow, which doubles as an advertisement for the fast-food restaurant Chic-fil-a, is designed to do Atlanta's signature "tomahawk chop" along with the fans.

Atlanta's long-time skipper Bobby Cox was given a lifetime membership to AARP prior to the contest.

Perhaps the cow should have gotten the membership instead. The giant bovine's creaky chopping motion lagged badly and was not quite in sync with the Atlanta crowd.

Meanwhile, two of Atlanta's best players left the game due to nagging injuries.

Jones, who was hitless in two at-bats to see his average plummet to .390, left the game in the top of the eighth after re-injuring his strained right quadriceps muscle.

The switch-hitting slugger expects to sidelined for a while.

"I'm going to be down for a couple of days," said Jones, who claimed he had a tennis ball-sized knot on the middle of his right thigh. "It got to the point where I couldn't move in the field. I had no motion whatsoever."

Yunel Escobar followed one frame later after straining his right hip flexor. He is listed as day-to-day.