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Mariners 'return' home to host Braves

Jun 27, 2011 - 5:40 PM (Sports Network) - The Mariners have been held to a pair of runs or less in four of their last six and six of their last eight games, but it was enough to earn a victory on Sunday.

Regardless, Erik Bedard would rather not chance it and hopes that Seattle can get its offense going tonight in the opener of a three-game series with the Atlanta Braves at Safeco Field.

Included in the Mariners' current 3-5 stretch is a 2-1 setback to Washington last Wednesday. Bedard took the loss in that one despite giving up just two unearned runs over six innings with 10 strikeouts. Despite the solid effort, the left-hander saw both a four-decision and nine-start unbeaten streak come to an end.

It marked Bedard's first defeat since April 20 and dropped him to 4-5 in 14 starts this season. His earned run average actually went down to 2.93 in defeat.

"(Bedard) is pitching his tail off out there," shortstop Brendan Ryan said. "We have to do something, we can't just score one run."

That is nearly what the Mariners did on Sunday managing just a single run through the game's first nine innings. However, their second run came in odd fashion when Dustin Ackley raced home on a wild pitch by Florida during an attempted intentional walk and Brandon League recorded his 21st save of the year to lock down a 2-1 win.

Ackley had three hits, including a double in the top of the 10th. He moved to third on a fly ball and then scored when Steve Cishek's third pitch to Carlos Peguero sailed past catch John Buck.

The rookie Ackley noticed right away that Cishek was off the mark on some earlier pitches.

"After I saw him throw a couple pitches, I was like, 'man, he's throwing a couple wide,' and I thought maybe for a guy throwing from that angle it might be easy for one to get away from him," Ackley said. "So I was pretty ready and when I saw it go by I just told myself, run as hard as you can and hopefully I can get there."

The Mariners took two of three in the set, which was played at Safeco Field despite Seattle being the road team. The series was originally slated to be held in Florida, but a scheduling conflict at Sun Life Stadium moved the location.

Atlanta stays on the West Coast and returns to interleague play after dropping the rubber match of a three-game series with the Padres on Sunday. The Braves picked up the first run of the game on a Jordan Schafer double in the eighth inning that scored Eric Hinske, but reliable closer Jonny Venters yielded four runs with two outs in the eighth inning.

Venters had allowed just three earned runs in 48 1/3 innings of work before Sunday's slipup, which resulted in just Atlanta's second loss in seven games.

"Today just didn't happen," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Needless to say, you try to get six outs with a one-run lead and it just didn't happen."

Brandon Beachy will look to build off his stellar return from a strained left oblique muscle tonight for the Braves.

Pitching on Wednesday for the first time since May 13, Beachy recorded a win over the Blue Jays after holding them to a run on four hits and two walks over six innings. The 24-year-old righty also logged a career-best 11 strikeouts to improve to 2-1 with a 3.22 ERA in nine starts this season.

"He was commanding his fastball," Gonzalez said on Atlanta's website. "He threw a half-dozen breaking pitches [that] they swung and missed. He pitched ahead in the count. When you get that many strikeouts in that low of a pitch count, you're ahead in the count."

Beachy's outing last week was his first in interleague play.

The 32-year-old Bedard, meanwhile has faced the Braves just once before, but had to exit that 2008 outing after three scoreless innings due to back spasms.

The Mariners and Braves have split six all-time meetings, with Seattle taking two of three at home back in 2003. Atlanta returned the favor on its home field in 2008.