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Suzuki extends hitting streak; Mariners hold off Rangers

Jun 1, 2007 - 6:53 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Ichiro Suzuki and the Seattle Mariners completed a bad month for the Texas Rangers.

Suzuki extended his hitting streak to a career-best 24 games with three hits as the Mariners beat the Rangers, 9-5, on Thursday, sending them to their worst May in franchise history.

"We're not always going to score near 10 runs a game," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "But the offense we have should score runs because we have good hitters. You look at all good offenses and they have a guy who kind of gets things going, and Ichiro is that guy for us."

Kenji Johjima and Adrian Beltre each had two hits and Richie Sexson drove in two runs for Seattle, which won the first of seven at home after going 6-4 on a 10-game road trip. Every regular in the batting order had at least one hit for the Mariners, who pounded out 14 overall.

Texas finishes this month 9-20, the first time the club has lost that many in May. It's also the 10th time the team has lost 20 games in any month.

"We've shown that we are not a good team," Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "We've shown that things need to change around here. We need to start playing better. It's on us. We've just got to go out there and play."

Suzuki sparked a three-run first inning for the Mariners with a leadoff base hit to center field.

"You know what? I expect Ichiro to get a hit every at-bat," said teammate Jose Vidro. "He's got so many ways to get on base. He's got speed and he's got a beautiful eye at the plate."

The single tied the team record held by Joey Cora, who also had a 24-game streak in 1997.

Suzuki said he did not realize at first that he tied a franchise record with his hitting streak, but he admitted the streak was on his mind.

"I had a consecutive hit streak going for me and I am always thinking about things when I go up to bat, so in that sense I was thinking about it," Ichiro said through an interpreter.

After loading the bases in the frame, Sexson put the Mariners on the board with a one-out, two-run single up the middle. Raul Ibanez followed with an RBI single to center to increase the lead to 3-0.

Seattle sent nine men to the plate in the third to open a seven-run bulge. Beltre, Yuniesky Betancourt and Suzuki each had run-scoring singles and Jose Vidro added an RBI groundout off Rangers starter Vicente Padilla.

Betancourt also had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

It was enough runs for Cha Seung Baek (3-2), who allowed five runs, five hits and two walks in 6 1/3 innings.

"(Baek) does a good job, he throws strikes," Hargrove said. "He got away from that in the fourth inning and gave up the five runs, but he settled down and gave us the fifth and the sixth, which we absolutely needed because our bullpen was thin tonight."

The righthander from South Korea struck out three to stay perfect (4-0) in his career vs. the Rangers.

Padilla (2-8) was rocked for seven runs, nine hits and a walk in three innings. The righthander has lost four of five and remains winless (0-5) on the road this season.

"We've got to pitch better, especially when your number two guy is supposed to be your number two guy," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "You give up runs early and you expect him to be able to battle and battle and just keep your team in the game."

Texas has lost 10 of his 12 appearances in 2007.

With Texas trailing by seven in the fourth, Frank Catalanotto hit a two-run double and Gerald Laird added a three-run homer to cut the deficit to 7-5.

However, Suzuki added another RBI single in the eighth and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ben Broussard to finish the scoring.

Michael Young and Laird each had two hits for Texas, which has lost eight of nine.