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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

M’s snap skid


Seattle Mariners pitcher Cha Seung Baek picked up his second victory of the season on Saturday.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – It’s been a while since Seattle won away from home.

Cha Seung Baek allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings as the Mariners overcame a triple play to stop a 12-game road losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Saturday night.

Baek (2-0) gave up six hits, one walk and had four strikeouts. J.J. Putz pitched two innings to earn his 29th save. Putz gave up a two-out solo homer to Ben Zobrist in the ninth.

“The first three innings, I was not focused actually,” Baek said. “I tried to concentrate. Lucky game.”

The Mariners team record for consecutive road losses is 15, set June 22-July 28, 2004. It was their first road victory since Aug. 2 at Baltimore.

“You just have to get rid of the absolute hollow feeling in the pit of your stomach,” Seattle manager Mike Hargrove said of the triple play. “It takes a couple of innings. Everything had to happen just right for that to be pulled off and it did. It obviously gave them the momentum back, and our guys battled through that and did what we had to do to win the ballgame.”

The Devil Rays threw out two runners trying to advance during a first-inning triple play.

Seattle had Jose Lopez on third and Beltre on first when Raul Ibanez struck out on a 3-2 pitch. Adrian Beltre broke for second on the play, but pulled up short of the base when catcher Dioner Navarro’s throw easily beat him to the base. Shortstop Zobrist caught Navarro’s throw and took a few steps before tagging out Beltre as he headed back toward first.

Zobrist then threw home where Navarro tagged out Lopez on his attempt to score from third.

“His (Navarro’s) throw down to second was perfect,” Zobrist said. “It led me straight into him where I could take it and just continue running and make the tag. I saw the guy taking off for home, so it’s just snap, snap, just like that.”

Devil Rays starting pitcher J.P. Howell said the play was “like a snowball fight.”

“Threw a strike, and let them do it,” he said. “I just watched the ball fly around.”

According to SABR, it was the first 2-6-2 triple play in major league history.

“That was pretty neat,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. “Zobrist really made the play happen. They executed it very well. In a practice situation you couldn’t do it any better.”

It was the first triple play at Tropicana Field and the second turned in Devil Rays history. They also accomplished the feat on Sept. 13, 2002, at Toronto.

Seattle has been on the wrong side of a triple play nine times in team history, including twice this season. The other one this year came May 27 against Minnesota.

“I’ve seem them, and that definitely was a weird play,” Ibanez said. “We came back, and the most important thing at the end of the day is whether you win or lose.”

Beltre had RBI singles in the first and third, helping the Mariners take a 3-1 lead. Richie Sexson hit a third-inning, bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

Rocco Baldelli and Delmon Young also homered for Tampa Bay. Howell (0-2) allowed three runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Mike Morse made it 4-1 on a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Baldelli hit his third lead-off homer of the season in the first and Young had an eighth-inning solo shot that cut the Tampa Bay deficit to 4-2.

After Zobrist’s homer in the ninth, Baldelli hit a game-ending fly to deep center.

“A lot of good things,” Maddon said. “We just got beat tonight.”