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Sosa awakens with five RBI as Rangers beat Mariners

Jul 24, 2007 - 5:58 AM ARLINGTON, Texas (Ticker) -- Sammy Sosa broke out of his slump in a big way.

After going hitless in his previous three games, Sosa belted his 15th home run of the season and 603rd of his career while driving in five runs to lead the Texas Rangers to an 8-7 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.

Sosa and Brad Wilkerson each homered in a five-run fifth inning off Seattle starter Horacio Ramirez (5-3) to break open a 3-3 game.

Texas won for just the second time in its last six games, while Seattle lost its third straight.

Sosa hadn't played since leaving Saturday night's game against Cleveland after getting hit in the head with a pitch, and was 0-for-9 in his last three games. He was hitting just .140 (6-for-43) with one RBI in his last 12 games.

"It's been a tough month for me, I'm not going to lie," Sosa said. "Every player's got to go through a tough situation.

"The one thing I like about it, my teammates have been picking me up. I know that the harder I work every day, somehow, some way I'm going to get out of this. Today was a great day and hopefully, I can pick it up from there, just continue to keep it going for the rest of the year."

Texas erupted for five runs in the fifth to turn a 3-3 tie into a blowout. With runners on first and second Sosa drilled a blast into the third row in left field as Ramirez became the 366th home run victim of Sosa's career. Marlon Byrd then blooped a single into shallow right and subsequently stole second.

"When you play this game for six months, there will be some point when you struggle," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "Sammy battles. He never quits working, he never quits trying. That's a trait you'd like to see in everybody. It's good to see it happen. In this game, he gave us insurance runs. We needed every run. I hope it's a trend that keeps on."

After Adam Melhuse struck out, Wilkerson launched his 15th home run just over the wall in center to make it 8-3 and chase Ramirez.

"I felt okay," Ramirez said. "There were some big situations where I gave up hits that barely got through. A few inches either way could have made the difference. I wanted to stay out of the big inning. I didn't do that and that's why we lost."

Ramirez fell to 0-3 in five starts on the road with an ERA over 13.72 after surrendering eight runs on 11 hits in just 4 2/3 innings. He is 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA in five home starts.

"We have talked about this and I don't know what to say," Seattle manager John McLaren said. "He's just comfortable at home. I don't know if it's the big ballpark, the cool air, the Seattle coffee he has in the morning - something makes him click at home and we need to find out because we need this guy to pitch on the road for us."

After being shut out in consecutive games by Toronto, 1-0 and 8-0, Seattle had not scored a run in 22 innings before breaking through for two in the first inning against Texas starter Kevin Millwood (7-8).

The Mariners went to work immediately, with their first five batters reaching base safely. Ichiro Suzuki singled up the middle to lead off and then Millwood walked both Jose Vidro and Raul Ibanez to load the bases, setting the stage for Jose Guillen's two-run single into left.

Millwood, now 3-1 in his last five starts, recovered to have a pretty solid outing. The righthander allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, while walking four and striking out four.

The Rangers came back to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third. Rookie Travis Metcalf, who entered the night with a .184 average, doubled to right-center and scored on Young's RBI single.

Ramirez then walked Mark Teixeira, and Sosa followed with a two-run double to left, bringing home both Young and Teixeira. Teixeira slid in just ahead of throw as Johjima missed a swipe tag.

With an 8-4 lead, Ron Mahay and Frank Francisco combined for three scoreless innings before Eric Gagne allowed a three-run homer to Richie Sexson that made the score 8-7 in the ninth. He then got Ben Broussard to line out to the right fielder Byrd, who doubled off Jose Lopez at first to end it.

"It wasn't really pretty today, but I will take them however I can get them," said Gagne, who gave up three runs for the first time in almost three years. "I didn't do my job today. I went out there and I wasn't focused enough, I wasn't making my pitches and there's no excuse. I've got to execute."

Vidro, who had a season-high four hits, added an RBI double in the sixth for Seattle, which has lost three straight for the first time since June 13-19.

"We battled back, I'm really proud of these guys," McLaren said. "They came back in the ninth inning. We got a lot of fight in us. We're not like the team from last year and the year before that just accepts things. We're going to find our way through this, we've hit a little streak here."