Washburn pitches M’s to victory over Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jarrod Washburn turned his simple game plan into another strong outing against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Washburn allowed one run in seven innings, and Jamie Burke hit a three-run homer to lead the Seattle Mariners past the Rays 7-1 on Wednesday night.

“I have to be able to establish that right half of the plate to be successful,” Washburn said. “When I’m able to do that, I’m able to have pretty good success.”

Washburn (1-1) gave up six hits, and improved to 11-3 against the Rays.

“Washburn was extremely solid,” Mariners manager John McLaren said. “He did a good job of moving the ball around. It was nice to put some runs on the board to give the guys a little breather.”

Adrian Beltre homered for Seattle, which has won two in a row following a four-game skid. Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Lopez and Jose Vidro also drove in runs.

“We’re not the type of team that’s going to blow many teams out,” Washburn said. “We’re going to win a lot of close ballgames with the type of pitching staff that we have.”

Tampa Bay right-hander Andy Sonnanstine (1-1) allowed four runs and seven hits over six innings for the Rays, who have lost four straight. Willie Aybar went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles for Tampa Bay.

“I felt like I gave our team a good chance to win, but it didn’t go my way tonight,” Sonnanstine said. “Washburn’s a good pitcher and he kept our hitters off balance all night. He did a good job.”

The Rays have scored seven runs in the past four games.

“We just have to, obviously, swing the bats better,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “The approach at the plate has got to improve. We have to work better at-bats, and that’s going to happen.”

Tampa Bay’s top five hitters went a combined 1 for 18.

“In this game, success and failure is contagious,” Rays designated hitter Jonny Gomes said. “When you see your big dogs failing, it’s kind of contagious a little bit.”

Burke’s first homer of the season, coming off J.P. Howell in the eighth, put the Mariners up 7-1. He finished 2 for 3 on the night, scoring twice.

“He was busting me in to try to get the double play,” Burke said. “I was probably guessing more than anything and was able to keep it fair.”

Ichiro had an RBI double during a two-run third as Seattle took a 2-0 lead.

Tampa Bay got one run back in the bottom of the inning on Akinori Iwamura’s sacrifice fly, but Beltre gave the Mariners a 3-1 lead with a solo homer in the fifth inning.

Beltre went 2 for 5 against the Rays, and has a hit in eight of his last nine games.

Seattle extended its advantage to 4-1 on Vidro’s run-scoring single in the sixth.

Putz begins throwing

M’s closer J.J. Putz made 61 throws on level ground, the first time he’s thrown since injuring his right ribcage on April 1 against Texas.

Putz made 18 of the throws from the stretch position at about 60 feet. It hasn’t been determined when he will work off a bullpen mound.

“Everything was a positive,” McLaren said. “He feels good and was real happy with his throwing. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and continue the program.”

Putz will have at least one more session on level ground before his status is evaluated.

“We’re just taking the safe approach more than an aggressive approach,” McLaren said.

McLaren is not sure if Putz will be ready to come off the DL next week.