Beltre, Mariners end skid

SEATTLE – You want desperation baseball?

This is what it’s like, for a New York Yankees team trying to maintain its division lead and a Seattle Mariners team just needing to win a game.

After 10 pitchers, five pinch hitters, two pinch runners and three intentional walks turned Tuesday night’s game at Safeco Field into a battle of matchups and a tie score through eight innings, the Mariners won it in the ninth on Adrian Beltre’s home run.

Beltre hit a two-run homer in the first inning and helped account for another run when his hard slide to break up a double play enabled a run to score when the Mariners tied the score in the seventh.

The 6-5 victory was the Mariners’ first since Aug. 9 after they’d lost 11 straight on their last road trip.

“You knew eventually that it would end,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. “I don’t think any of us imagined it would end in dramatic fashion. For it to end that way was pretty special.”

Beating the Yankees, who maintained their 6 1/2-game American League East lead over Boston, also was special, although Hargrove wasn’t particular after what the Mariners had experienced.

“Right now, it’s just nice to beat somebody,” he said. “It’s been 11 games since we’ve been able to say that. In those 11 games, we didn’t play especially good baseball. Everybody, everybody contributed in some form or fashion tonight.”

He meant everybody.

When it ended, the only Mariners who didn’t play were relief pitchers Joel Pineiro and J.J. Putz. Hargrove’s bench was empty in the eighth after he used Willie Bloomquist, and when the game ended, the only move Hargrove didn’t make was putting a pitcher in the outfield.

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead when Beltre lined a two-strike pitch from Karstens over the left-field fence for a two-run homer in the first inning.

The Yankees pulled ahead in the third when Bobby Abreu crushed a Cha Seung Baek pitch over the center-field fence for a 3-2 Yankees lead.

The Mariners tied the score at 3 when Richie Sexson hit his 27th home run, and Baek maintained the tie the next two innings before Hargrove brought in left-handed rookie Eric O’Flaherty in the sixth.

Alex Rodriguez, the former Mariner who was booed again in his return to Safeco Field, greeted O’Flaherty with a two-run homer into the upper deck in left field, giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

Mariners shuffle roster

The struggling Mariners juggled their roster again, sending center fielder Adam Jones to Triple-A Tacoma and calling up right-handed pitcher Cha Seung Baek to start against the Yankees.

Baek took the spot on the Mariners’ 25-man roster of pitcher Jamie Moyer, who was traded to Philadelphia on Saturday.

Outfielder T.J. Bohn was called up from Tacoma to take Jones’ roster spot.