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Young's 3-run homer leads Texas over Seattle 6-4

Jul 11, 2009 - 6:22 AM SEATTLE(AP) -- Scott Feldman knew that if he just did his job Friday night his teammates would do theirs against the Seattle Mariners.

It worked out just as the Texas Rangers right-hander hoped. He allowed two runs in the first inning but worked into the seventh and the Rangers hit three home runs in the 6-4 victory.

Michael Young had the biggest homer, a three-run shot in the third inning that gave the Rangers a 4-2 lead.

"I saw Scott (after the first). We both came up to the clubhouse and he said, 'OK, I'm going to bear down here. Hopefully, that's all they get,"' Young said. "It was fun playing behind him. He gets up there and competes and does everything he can to win a ballgame."

Hank Blalock hit his 18th homer, a solo shot in the second, and Nelson Cruz added a two-run shot in the eighth, his 21st.

Young and Blalock are a combined 23 of 57 (.404) against Seattle this season with four home runs and 10 RBIs in seven games.

Feldman (8-2) went 6 2-3 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs. He was 6-8 last season with a 5.29 ERA.

Frank Francisco worked the ninth to pick up his 15th save in 17 opportunities.

"I hated giving up two runs but I felt if I could keep it there, more times than not we're going to put up some runs," Feldman said. "I just focused on keeping them there and forgetting about that first inning."

He said Young's home run "turned the momentum our way. That was the hit of the night right there. I gave up the early lead and he got it right back for us."

Brandon Morrow (0-4) went five innings, allowing four runs and six hits. He has yielded six home runs in his last four starts.

Ken Griffey Jr. had three hits for the Mariners.

"The big thing for me was we had Feldman with 24 pitches in the first inning and allowed him to get 6 2-3 (innings)," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "Our strength is to be able to get pressure on that starter and get into the bullpen like anyone else."

Ichiro Suzuki, who had two hits to raise his major league-leading average to .362, opened the Seattle first with a single and he scored without a throw when Russell Branyan doubled into the gap in left-center gap.

Griffey reached on a fielder's choice and he scored from first when Franklin Gutierrez extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with a double into the gap in right-center to make it 2-0.

The Rangers made it 2-1 in the second on Blalock's 435-foot homer, the 18th of his career against Seattle.

Texas took advantage of Morrow's control problems in a three-run third. Omar Vizquel and Ian Kinsler drew consecutive one-out walks followed by Young's first-pitch blast, his 11th, for a 4-2 lead.

"After I lost Vizquel, I just lost it against Kinsler and that got the second guy on," Morrow said. "Then Young came up and drove the ball pretty good."

The Rangers had an aggressive game plan against Morrow. Five batters swung at his first pitch, seven at his second and three went at his third offering. Fifteen of the 23 batters he faced only saw three pitches.

"We know what type of fastball he has. We're a fastball-hitting team," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "When he throws something in the zone, we tried to get on it. That's what that was."

Young said there wasn't one way of how the Rangers would face Morrow.

"We try to make sure regardless of who we are facing, our approach is dictated by the situation of the game and what the scoreboard tells us to do. It's a case by case basis," Young said. "I was looking for something I could drive a little bit. First and second with one out, anything I roll over right there is going to be bad news, trying not to hit a double-play ball. I tried to hit something hard and hopefully find a gap."

Cruz's home run made it 6-2, but the Mariners scored two in the eighth on Gutierrez's RBI groundout and Kenji Johjima's RBI double.

NOTES: OF David Murphy was scratched from the Texas lineup because of a strained finger on his right hand. He injured it Thursday trying to make a diving catch. He is day to day. ... Cruz, an All-Star, is considering participating in the Home Run Derby. Asked if he could match teammate Josh Hamilton's effort last year, he said: "Nobody can do better; nobody in this league." ... The Mariners decided against DH Mike Sweeney having an MRI on his ailing back. ... Griffey's eighth-inning double was his 515th, tying him with Joe Cronin for 38th place on the all-time list.