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Verlander stays hot as Tigers down Mariners

Jul 4, 2008 - 7:06 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Justin Verlander proved to be too much even for the red-hot Seattle Mariners to handle.

Verlander pitched six strong innings on Thursday night to lead the Detroit Tigers to an 8-4 victory over the Mariners.

The 25-year-old Verlander (5-9) allowed just two runs, eight hits and three walks while striking out three to hand Seattle just its third loss in the last 10 games. It was the sixth straight start in which the righthander has allowed three runs or less.

"I felt like the last few starts, really the last month and a half or so, I'd turned the corner and was throwing the ball pretty well," Verlander said. "Today I was inconsistent and maybe took a step backwards or so, but that's going to happen.

"You expect as a pitcher you're not going to have good command or your best stuff every time out, so as long as I was able to minimize the damage so I could keep us in the game, I was pleased."

Verlander, who has lowered his ERA from 6.43 to 4.34 over his last 11 outings, stumbled out of the gate, surrendering a leadoff single by Ichiro Suzuki and committing a throwing error that allowed the Japanese star to advance to third. Suzuki scored one batter later on a single by Jose Lopez.

"We felt like if he got out of that inning, he was going to be pretty good for the night," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "A lot of people think the ballgame is just the eighth or ninth inning, but that might have been the biggest inning of the game tonight when he got out of the first."

Placido Polanco briefly erased the deficit with an RBI single in the third. But the Mariners regained a 2-1 edge in the bottom of the inning as an infield single by Jose Vidro plated Lopez, who opened the frame with a double and advanced to third on a groundout by Raul Ibanez.

After Ivan Rodriguez tied the contest with yet another RBI single in the fourth, the Tigers took the lead for good in the fifth, scoring three times against Mariners starter Carlos Silva (4-10), who allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings.

"They have a heck of a lineup," Mariners interim manager Jim Riggleman said. "If you pitch real well, you can hold them down. Some teams you can hold down even when you are not at your best, but that lineup right there, you pretty much have to be at the top of your game to shut them down."

Curtis Granderson opened the decisive frame with a triple to center field. After Polanco lined out to second, Granderson scored on a fielder's choice to second base by former Mariner Carlos Guillen as Lopez failed to throw out Granderson at home.

"(Lopez) made a heck of a play," Riggleman said. "It was going to be tough to get Granderson, and maybe we should have been all the way in or conceded that run and took the out.

"The in-between hop got Lopez on his heels a little bit. But he has such a strong arm, he thought he could get him. His athletic ability worked against him right there."

Miguel Cabrera followed with a single before rookie Matt Joyce and Gary Sheffield delivered run-scoring base hits to extend Detroit's lead to 5-2.

"It was a good win," Leyland said. "We were able to get some runs and help out Verlander."

Rookie Michael Holliman hit his first career home run, a leadoff shot off Mariners reliever Mark Lowe in the sixth, before Rodriguez's two-run single in the ninth gave the Tigers an 8-2 advantage.

"It was big," Rodriguez said of his ninth-inning hit. "It's like all year, we've been having one good inning so we've got to keep doing it."

Seattle plated a pair of runs off Detroit closer Todd Jones in the ninth before Fernando Rodney came on to induce a flyout by Jeff Clement for his first save of the season.