Mariners beat Yankees to end losing streak
Posted July 27, 2011 4:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The Seattle Mariners snapped their 17-game losing streak Wednesday, riding a 17-hit attack led by Ichiro Suzuki and rookie Dustin Ackley to a 9-2 victory over the New York Yankees.
Felix Hernandez pitched seven innings for his third straight win in the Bronx. Suzuki had four hits and scored two runs. Ackley tripled among his three hits and drove in three runs as the Mariners did something they failed to accomplish during the skid: they turned an opponent’s mistake into a big inning.
Seattle took 21 days worth of frustration out on three relievers, scoring five runs in the seventh inning — highlighted by Mike Carp’s bases-loaded triple — after Robinson Cano flubbed a flip to Derek Jeter at second base for an error.
The Mariners added two more in the ninth when Adam Kennedy doubled in Ackley and scored on Carp’s single to give Seattle its most runs since it had nine in a win against Tampa Bay on June 5.
After a win July 5, the Mariners were 43-43 and 2 1/2 games back in the AL West, a pleasant early season surprise. But it all fell apart in a hurry.
The longest skid in the major leagues since Kansas City lost 19 in 2005 began with a loss at Oakland on July 6 and included four-game sweeps against division rivals, the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers. The Mariners led in seven of the games, twice in the seventh inning, and loss No. 10 — to the Blue Jays — came in 14 innings.
Their last nine games have been against the AL East. They lost three to Toronto, three to Boston then dropped the first two to New York, managing just one hit Tuesday night.
Manager Eric Wedge shaved his moustache after losing Saturday, pushed back the report time and cancelled batting practice Tuesday but had nothing up his sleeve Wednesday: “No, the only trick is these guys have to go out and do better,” he said before the game.
And that’s what they did.
The Mariners came in hitting .218 during the streak but smacked around a struggling Phil Hughes (1-3) for nine hits and two runs over six innings. Still, Seattle had trouble getting runners home before Carp’s triple in the seventh.
Ackley was stranded on third after he hit a two-out RBI triple in the third. Ackley singled in a run in the fifth, but that was it after the Mariners loaded the bases with none out. Kennedy led off the sixth with a double and was stranded there.
But Seattle let loose in the seventh after Cano’s error on Ackley’s run-scoring fielder’s choice.
