• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Twins-Mariners Preview

Jun 2, 2010 - 6:32 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Minnesota (31-20) at Seattle (19-31), 10:10 p.m. EDT

A new month brings with it the promise of success for the Seattle Mariners.

Cliff Lee looks for a third straight victory while trying to help the Mariners win two in a row in the continuation of their home series with the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins on Thursday night.

After going 11-12 in April and a miserable 8-19 in May, Seattle (20-31) snapped a three-game skid by opening June with a 7-1 win Tuesday to even the four-game set with the Twins.

"We needed the win," said infielder Jose Lopez, who homered and drove in three runs. "We played great and have to keep doing that."

Ichiro Suzuki had three hits and Chone Figgins add two with an RBI to help the Mariners snap Minnesota's five-game winning streak.

The last-place Mariners hope players like Lopez and Figgins can continue to stay hot this month and help the club get back into the AL West race. Seattle went 15-10 last June.

Figgins is batting .217 in his first season with Seattle, but is 8 for 19 in his last five contests.

"He's done it for a number of years," manager Don Wakamatsu said of Figgins, a lifetime .288 hitter. "It's just a matter of when."

Hitting .239, Lopez is 12 for 30 with two homers in his last eight games. He's 8 for 17 with two home runs in his last four versus the Twins (31-21).

Minnesota averaged 5.8 runs during its winning streak, but managed six hits and a Justin Morneau homer off three Mariners' pitchers Tuesday.

Now, the Twins will try to avoid a third straight loss to Lee (3-2, 3.22 ERA). The 2008 Cy Young Award winner is 8-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 17 career starts versus Minnesota, including 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in the last three.

In his last outing this season, the left-hander bounced back after giving up eight runs in 6 1-3 innings of a 15-8 win over San Diego by allowing three runs and striking out 10 in eight innings of an 8-3 win against the Los Angeles Angels in his 200th appearance Friday.

"He's going to come at you and he's going to leave it out there every fifth day," teammate Ken Griffey Jr., said. "He's a lot of fun to watch, but he's a pain if you've got to hit against him. He does everything well."

Minnesota's Kevin Slowey (6-3, 4.15) has pitched quite well and looks for a third straight victory as he opposes Lee.

The right-hander, 2-0 with a 3.12 ERA in his last three starts, allowed a run in 6 2-3 innings of a 2-1 win over Texas on Friday.

"My last couple of starts don't really have an effect on this start and this start probably won't have an effect on my next start," said Slowey, who completed six innings for just the second time this season. "We take them all as individual starts. I feel like every start is an individual challenge."

Slowey has lasted into the sixth in one of two starts while going 1-1 with a 7.59 ERA against the Mariners.

Morneau's homer was his team-leading 12th, but first in 14 games. The majors' leading hitter with a .374 average is 4 for 8 in the series, but 7 for 32 against Lee.