Mariners Noon Number: 3

Seattle Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma allowed three hits over 5 2/3 innings to the Detroit Tigers on Thursday as the M’s took the rubber match of a three-game series 2-1.

The game stood in stark contrast to Tuesday’s nightmare – a 19-9 loss in which the Tigers pounded out 24 hits, and the M’s lost rotation stalwart Felix Hernandez and Mitch Haniger to injury.

But enough of the doom and gloom.

Iwakuma was almost as sharp as James Paxton was on Wednesday in his gem. The veteran suffered one unearned run – the result of a fluky Robinson Cano fielding error – and walked just one while striking out three. Dominant? Maybe not. But certainly crafty.

Meanwhile, the Mariners won the series and bumped their record to 10-13, with a three-game set ahead in Cleveland. It’s still not where they wanted to be or thought they would be, but they are slowly digging themselves out of the hole they dug the first 10 games of the season.