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Padilla stellar as Rangers blank Mariners

May 8, 2008 - 6:29 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Vicente Padilla continues to be a pleasant surprise for the Texas Rangers.

Padilla pitched seven scoreless innings Wednesday night to lead the Rangers to a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

The 30-year-old Padilla (5-2) surrendered just two hits and two walks while striking out a season-high eight to notch his third win in as many starts.

"He was excellent," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "He threw the ball all over the plate, and he was up, down and all over. He did a great job of keeping them off balance."

The righthander retired 12 straight batters between the second and sixth innings before running into his only serious trouble of the game in the seventh. But after walking Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre to start the inning, Padilla struck out the next three batters to escape the jam.

"I gave up those two walks and I had to be very careful with my pitches because if I pitched something close and they got a (bloop) hit, that would be very hard for me," Padilla said through an interpreter. "I had to trust my fastball tonight and I knew that I could handle it."

"I think (Padilla's) best inning was the seventh when he got in trouble and then got out of the jam," Washington said. "His breaking ball was working and he had his fastball tonight - I just wish he'd fall in love with (the fastball)."

Reliever Joaquin Benoit issued a walk in the eighth inning before C.J. Wilson slammed the door in the ninth, walking one while striking out one to record his eighth save of the season.

The Rangers also struggled to put runs on the board against Mariners starter Erik Bedard (2-2), who suffered his second straight loss.

"Erik pitched a real nice game," Mariners manager John McLaren said. "He was on top of his game. We didn't have much run support but he threw the ball extremely well."

Rookie Brandon Boggs opened the scoring in the fourth inning with his first career triple to center field that plated Milton Bradley, who had singled to left with one out.

"(The pitch) was up and high," Boggs said. "(Bedard) was trying to (throw) a waste pitch, trying to get me to chase, but it wasn't up high enough and I got on top of it."

Bradley supplied Texas' only other run in the sixth, belting his fourth home run of the season - a solo blast to left field.

Bedard (2-2) allowed just two runs and six hits in seven innings, walking one while striking out five.

"I pitched good but it doesn't really matter," he said. "We need a win and that's all that counts. You just go out there and do what you can. That's all you've got to do."

However, the 29-year-old lefthander got no help from the Mariners' offense, which has scored just one run in its last 23 innings and only 10 during seven losses in the last eight games.

"We're just going through a real tough stretch right now," McLaren said. "We're not swinging the bats well and it seems like when we do hit the ball hard it's right at somebody."