Seattle Storm's Katie Smith raises her arms after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees Saturday, May 28, 2011, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
SEATTLE — Adam Kennedy scored pinch-runner Luis Rodriguez with a bloop single off Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the 12th inning and the Seattle Mariners won for the ninth time in 10 games with a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday night.
Rivera (1-1) made career appearance No. 1,001 in the 12th inning. He got a broken-bat grounder from Chone Figgins to start before Justin Smoak blooped a single to left that Brett Gardner barely missed on a diving attempt. Jack Cust then dropped a double just inside the left field line that advanced Smoak to third with the winning run and just one out.
Rodriguez replaced Smoak as a pinch-runner at third, and after Franklin Gutierrez was intentionally walked to load the bases, Kennedy dumped an 0-1 pitch in front of Curtis Granderson in center field to score Rodriguez.
David Pauley (4-0) worked two innings of relief to get the victory.
