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Mariners send Twins to 11th straight loss

Sep 22, 2011 - 4:18 AM Minneapolis, MN (Sports Network) - Trayvon Robinson ripped a two-run single and Ichiro Suzuki slapped an RBI double during a three-run seventh inning to send the Seattle Mariners to a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins in the middle tilt of a three-game set at Target Field.

Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager had RBI doubles for the Mariners, winners of three straight.

Cesar Jimenez (1-0) worked 1 1/3 innings in relief to earn the win and Brandon League made it through a shaky ninth to earn his 36th save of the season.

Joe Benson had an RBI double, Michael Cuddyer picked up three hits and Chris Parmelee had an RBI single among his three hits for the Twins, who have lost 11 games in a row.

Kevin Slowey (0-7) took a no-hitter into the sixth but wound up yielding five runs on six hits over 6 2/3 innings in defeat. He struck out six and did not issue a walk.

"It's unfortunate, things aren't falling into place right now," Parmelee said. "It's part of the game. We're going to come back tomorrow, keeping working hard and we'll get some wins."

With the game tied at two in the seventh, Justin Smoak and Miguel Olivo hit back-to-back singles and both advanced a base on a sacrifice bunt by Adam Kennedy. A strikeout by Alex Liddi left the Mariners with men on second and third with two outs before Robinson came up with his two-run hit, then scored on Suzuki's hit off Phil Dumatrait.

The Twins pulled a run back in the eighth when Trevor Plouffe doubled to center off Tom Wilhelmsmen and scored on a single by Brian Dinkelman to make it 5-3.

Minnesota picked up a run in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Plouffe with two outs, but fell one hit short, as League got Dinkelman to ground out to end the game.

"I've liked the result the past two nights," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said, "League got it done. They did a good job being aggressive, but you know our bullpen did a great job. To get five innings out of the bullpen, it says a lot about them."

Minnesota opened the scoring in its first at-bat when Ben Revere and Cuddyer laced back-to-back one-out singles and Parmelee came up with a single to bring home Revere.

Plouffe began the Twins' fourth with a single to left and moved to second on a wild pitch by Mariners starter Michael Pineda. Following a foul out by Dinkelman, Benson knocked in Plouffe with a double to center to make it 2-0.

Suzuki beat out an infield single with two down in the sixth for Seattle's first hit, then back-to-back doubles by Seager and Ackley knotted the game at two.

Game Notes

Wednesday marked Pineda's final start of the season. He gave up two runs on six hits over four frames, while striking out two and walking two. He had 173 strikeouts this year, which ranks second in franchise history for a rookie...Minnesota's 11-game skid is the third longest in franchise history, and the longest since its record 14-game slide in 1982.