Final
Mariners eye seventh consecutive win in middle tilt with Twins
May 24, 2011 - 2:31 PMVideo
The Mariners got some late-inning heroics in last night's opener, an 8-7 victory in 10 innings, to stretch their win streak to a season-best six straight. Seattle trailed by three runs heading into the eighth inning, but saw Adam Kennedy and Ichiro Suzuki both drive in runs in the frame before Carlos Peguero's run-scoring single in the ninth forced extra innings.
Luis Rodriguez then brought home the go-ahead run in the extra frame with a sacrifice fly and Brandon League retired the Twins in order for his 11th save.
Jack Cust hit a two-run homer and Peguero ended with a pair of RBI for the Mariners, who are 15-9 over their last 24 games and haven't won seven straight since an eight-game run from June 23-July 1, 2007.
"Everybody contributed tonight. You could see what type of game it was gonna be early on. We kept competing and our bullpen did a good job," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. "There are so many moments which ended up being turning points, times where if we don't execute, then we're not playing anymore."
If Seattle wants to stay hot, it will need to cool off Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn, who is 2-0 with a 1.63 earned run average in four starts this month after going 1-4 with a 5.14 ERA in April.
The 29-year-old righty is coming off a win at Oakland on Thursday in which he gave up just a run on five hits and two walks over seven innings, lowering his season ERA to 3.40. Blackburn wasn't totally happy with his outing afterwards despite the fourth straight quality start.
"Today was probably the biggest battle for me, because I didn't feel like I was locating," Blackburn told Minnesota's website. "But we were getting a lot of ground balls. So I guess that shows the ball was moving down and that it was moving late. So we were able to keep them off balance."
Blackburn has faced the Mariners six times in his career, going 2-1 with a 3.13 ERA.
Jim Thome will look to give Blackburn some support as he continues to chase the 600 home run plateau. Playing in his first game since April 30 due to a left oblique strain -- and on a night when the Twins were honoring the late Harmon Killebrew -- Thome hit a pair of two-run homers to give him 593 in his career.
"You go on the DL, then go down and you always want to come back and swing the bat well," Thome said. "Unfortunately, we didn't win the ballgame, and that's what you want to do every night."
Denard Span also homered among his three hits, but the Twins still lost their fourth straight and for the 13th time in 16 games. It was also just Minnesota's third loss in its last nine versus Seattle.
The Twins also lost a pair of players to injury last night as Delmon Young exited in the seventh inning with a left leg injury after fouling a ball off his leg, while Michael Cuddyer suffered a right hip strain. Both player's status for this game is unknown.
The Mariners hope that Doug Fister can pick up his first career victory over the Twins this evening, with the right-hander losing all three of his previous starts against them with a 3.66 ERA.
Fister hasn't factored into the decision of his last two starts despite allowing just three runs -- all on solo homers -- and 10 hits over 16 innings in that time. He gave up one home run over eight innings on Thursday versus the Angels in his team's eventual 2-1 victory.
The 27-year-old is 2-4 with a 2.93 ERA in nine starts this season, with Seattle scoring two runs or less in seven of those games.
- SEATTLE: 2
MINNESOTA: 4
Final
May 24 10:31 PM - Matt Tolbert flied out to left. Runner on third with two outs and Jason Kubel due up.
Mariners 2, Twins 4 Bot 7, 2 OutsMay 24 10:02 PM - Alexi Casilla advances to second on a balk. On the play, Rene Rivera scored on a Doug Fister balk with one out. Runner on second and Denard Span at the plate.
Mariners 2, Twins 3 Bot 7, 1 OutMay 24 9:58 PM - Jim Thome grounded out short to first. None on with one out and Delmon Young due up.
Mariners 2, Twins 2 Bot 4, 1 OutMay 24 9:08 PM - Matt Tolbert sacrifice squeeze bunt to catcher scored Alexi Casilla with two out. None on and Jason Kubel due up.
Mariners 0, Twins 2 Bot 3, 2 OutsMay 24 8:53 PM - Jason Kubel single to right scored Denard Span with one out. Runner on first and Justin Morneau due up.
Mariners 0, Twins 1 Bot 1, 1 OutMay 24 8:25 PM - SEATTLE: 0
MINNESOTA: 0
Top 1, 0 Outs
May 24 8:10 PM
Related News
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/26/23: Kyle Keller, J.T. Realmuto, and Chad Smith Dec 26
- Greatest Minnesota Twins: The Twinkie Town Definitive List (Round 9) Dec 26
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/25/23: Mitch Garver, Yuki Matsui, and Joe Kelly Dec 25
- Mariners to sign Mitch Garver to 2-year, $24M contract Dec 24
- The season of perpetual hope (Pt. 3 of 3): Jim Eisenreich Dec 24
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/23/23: Bryce Miller, Shelby Miller, and Ryan Minor Dec 23
- Rival Roundup, Vol. 47: Home for the Holidays Dec 23
- ZiPS, Holidays & Mariner Malaise - Meet at the Mitt Podcast Dec 22
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/22/23: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Rule Changes, and More RSN Fallout Dec 22
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/21/23: Trevor Gott, Eric Haase, and Adrian Houser Dec 21
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/20/23: Andrew McCutchen, Yuki Matsui, and TJ Hopkins Dec 20
- Mariners Moose Tracks, 12/19/23: Tom Murphy, Martin Perez, and Matt Carpenter Dec 19