Guillen, Batista key M’s

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jose Guillen provided key offense and Miguel Batista helped out a depleted bullpen in Seattle’s second straight win.

Guillen had four hits and two RBIs, Batista gave up one run in six innings and the Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-1 on Wednesday night.

Guillen’s single in the seventh drove in Jason Ellison and Ichiro Suzuki. Guillen is 14 for 37 with three home runs and 17 RBIs in his last 10 games, raising his average from .176 to .282.

“I’m just trying to relax,” Guillen said. “Trying to stay consistent. Not let this game get you frustrated. You win … that’s it.”

Batista (4-4) stopped a personal two-game losing skid. He allowed seven hits, two walks and had five strikeouts.

“Miguel, he wasn’t his best tonight but he found a way,” Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. “His pitch count was high enough the first couple innings I thought we’d be lucky to get five out of him. Then he settled down and was really back on track for 15 or less pitches per inning.”

Hargrove said relievers Brandon Morrow, Eric O’Flaherty and Sean White, all of whom have pitched a lot recently, were unavailable.

“It seems like we’ve been for the past week, just down to the bare bones, and once again our starters came through for us and gave us enough innings to piece it together,” Hargrove said.

Sean Green and George Sherrill combined for three perfect innings out of the bullpen.

Yuniesky Betancourt gave Seattle a 2-1 lead on his fourth-inning double. He is 11 for 18 with runners in scoring position this month.

B.J. Upton homered for the Devil Rays, who have lost five in a row after a season-high four-game winning streak.

Kenji Johjima made it 3-1 with an RBI double off Casey Fossum (3-4) in the sixth. The Mariners loaded the bases with one out later in the inning, but reliever Shawn Camp induced a double-play grounder from Jose Lopez.

Fossum allowed three runs – one earned – and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. His ERA dropped from 7.80 to 7.15.

Upton, batting leadoff for the first time this season, put the Devil Rays up 1-0 in the first when he homered on a 0-1 pitch.

“I didn’t have much on the ball the first two innings,” Batista said. “My velocity was down. That home run, I left the ball right down the middle. I’m glad I found a little bit of myself after the second inning.”

Ichiro extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a first-inning single. He is expected to play in his 1,000th major league game today.