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Pineda, Mariners hold off red-hot Phillies

Jun 18, 2011 - 6:26 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Michael Pineda threw six strong innings and Ichiro Suzuki had three hits and scored three times as Seattle held on to defeat Philadelphia, 4-2, to begin a three-game interleague series.

Pineda (7-4) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished the day allowing one run on two hits with three walks and a hit batter. Brandon League pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his American League-leading 20th save.

Miguel Olivo had a home run and Brendan Ryan added two RBI in the Mariners' third win in five games.

Roy Oswalt (4-5) went 6 1/3 innings for the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks as the Phillies had their season-high seven-game win streak snapped.

"He pitched well," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said of Oswalt. "He has to keep Ichiro off base. You've got to keep him off base and we didn't do that tonight. Outside that I feel like he did fine. He kept us in the game, but just had some trouble against Ichiro and Ryan."

League got two quick outs in the ninth before allowing a single to Raul Ibanez. Ben Francisco then hit a bouncer to the left side of the infield that bounced off the glove of Chone Figgins and Francisco reached first safely to put the tying runs on base.

Domonic Brown came up next and hit a slow grounder up the middle that Dustin Ackley, who made his major league debut, fielded and made a strong throw to first, just beating Brown to the bag and ending the game.

Suzuki legged out an infield single with one out in the third and came around to score on Ryan's triple to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. Ryan was stranded at third, though, after Adam Kennedy flew out and Carlos Peguero popped out around a Justin Smoak walk.

"As I've said before, he's a tough hitter to critique because his approach is very unique, but I think one thing we are seeing is that his timing is a little bit better, his direction is a little bit better, and it's paying off for him and for us," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said of Suzuki.

Olivo's solo-shot in the fourth put Seattle up by two.

The Mariners added another run in the fifth after Suzuki led off with a single and was followed with a walk by Ryan before both advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Kennedy. Smoak then popped a ball into foul territory on the first base side. Chase Utley made a running catch on the play, but Suzuki took home as Utley's throw home was wide to make it a 3-0 game.

Philadelphia got a run in the sixth on an Utley single that scored Rollins. Rollins worked a two-out walk and advanced to third when Shane Victorino pulled a ball through the right side of the infield for the Phillies' first hit of the game.

Ryan Howard worked a walk to load the bases, but Placido Polanco struck out on a check swing to end the inning.

Seattle got that run right back in the seventh after Suzuki slapped a one-out double and rounded third on Ryan's base-hit to left-center field.

Victorino's solo homer in the eighth made the score 4-2.

Game Notes

Suzuki recorded his sixth consecutive multi-hit game...Philadelphia fell to 16-15 on the road this season...Pineda threw 56 of his 92 pitches for strikes...Philadelphia went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base...Ackley hit a single up the middle in the second inning for his first major league hit but finished 1-for-4...Ibanez made his first trip back to Seattle since 2008 after spending 10 seasons with Seattle (1996-2000, 2004-2008).