Speed wins for Mariners
SEATTLE – Casey Kotchman and Franklin Gutierrez got the run-scoring hits, only after Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins and Milton Bradley did the leg work.
Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu wasn’t kidding when he told his team in spring training they were going to run.
Kotchman snapped a tie with an RBI double in the seventh off the glove of leaping Detroit right fielder Ryan Raburn, and the Seattle Mariners won their fourth straight with a 4-2 win over the Tigers on Saturday night.
Bradley scored on Kotchman’s double, but only because he walked on a 3-2 pitch from Detroit starter Justin Verlander (0-1) to open the inning, then stole second early in Kotchman’s at-bat. When the ball trickled from Raburn’s glove, Bradley, who was tagging up, scored from second.
The aggressiveness proved beneficial in the first and eighth innings as well. Ichiro stole third after doubling to open the game and scored on Gutierrez’s single. Figgins stole second and scored on another hit by Gutierrez in the eighth.
Seattle might have only 11 stolen bases in 12 games, but they’ve come in important situations.
“That’s the good part about when a manager tells you to be aggressive,” Figgins said. “He said in spring training, ‘when you can run, run, no matter what the situation is.’ ”
Ichiro finished a home run short of the cycle and scored twice for Seattle. Ichiro lined Verlander’s first pitch of the bottom of the first for a double, tripled and scored in the third and singled in the fifth. He walked in the eighth.
That was enough offense for Seattle starter Ryan Rowland-Smith and a trio of relievers. Rowland-Smith continued the trend of strong starting efforts, pitching into the seventh and giving up just four hits and two runs before the bullpen did the rest.
Brandon League (2-0) took over and got out of trouble in the seventh. Mark Lowe put two on in the eighth, but a double play ended the inning. David Aardsma got his fifth save.
Mariners 4, Tigers 2
| Detroit | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| A.Jackson cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .311 |
| Raburn rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .188 |
| Ordonez dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .341 |
| Mi.Cabrera 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .357 |
| C.Guillen lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .286 |
| Inge 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .300 |
| S.Sizemore 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .300 |
| Laird c | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .143 |
| Avila ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .100 |
| Everett ss | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .261 |
| Damon ph | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Santiago ss | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| Totals | 32 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Seattle | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| I.Suzuki rf | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .306 |
| Figgins 2b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .250 |
| F.Gutierrez cf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .417 |
| Jo.Lopez 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .292 |
| Griffey Jr. dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .222 |
| Bradley lf | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .139 |
| Kotchman 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .229 |
| Moore c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .105 |
| J.Wilson ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .189 |
| Totals | 29 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| Detroit | 000 | 100 | 100—2 | 7 | 1 |
| Seattle | 101 | 000 | 11x—4 | 8 | 0 |
E—C.Guillen (1). LOB—Detroit 8, Seattle 4. 2B—S.Sizemore (3), I.Suzuki (2), Kotchman (3). 3B—I.Suzuki (1). HR—Ordonez (4), off Rowland-Smith. RBIs—Ordonez (9), Damon (5), Figgins (4), F.Gutierrez 2 (8), Kotchman (7). SB—I.Suzuki (3), Figgins (4), Bradley (1). CS—J.Wilson (1). S—Laird. SF—Figgins. RLISP—Detroit 4 (Raburn 2, Ordonez, S.Sizemore); Seattle 1 (Bradley). GIDP—S.Sizemore. DP—Seattle 1 (Jo.Lopez, Figgins, Kotchman).
| Detroit | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| Verlander L,0-1 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6.88 |
| Coke | 1/3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.84 |
| Zumaya | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Seattle | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
| Rowland-Smith | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4.50 |
| League W,2-0 BS,2-2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.70 |
| M.Lowe H,1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.86 |
| Aardsma S,5-5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
IR-S—Zumaya 1-1, League 1-1. PB—Moore. T—2:35. A—31,647 (47,878).