Mariners Spear Twins In 7-0 Win
SEATTLE (AP) — Felix Hernandez and Steve Delabar combined on a one-hitter and the Seattle Mariners shut out the Minnesota Twins 7-0 on Saturday.
Kyle Seager went 2 for 4 with a homer and four RBIs to pace the Mariners offense.
Denard Span had the only Twins' hit, a roller through the right side in the fourth inning.
Hernandez (3-1) struck out nine and walked two in eight innings. His ERA dropped to 1.89. Delabar pitched a perfect ninth.
Jason Marquis (2-1) threw six innings, allowed two runs, four hits and tied a career-high with six walks for the Twins.
In his past four outings, Hernandez has allowed 15 hits and two earned runs in 31 innings with 32 strikeouts.
Seager drove in four runs for the second time in four days. His two-run single in the sixth started the scoring, then he hit a two-run home run in the seventh.
There have been 13 one-hitters in Mariners history, 10 thrown by one pitcher and three combined.
The most recent Mariners' one-hitter thrown by one pitcher was by Jarrod Washburn on July 6, 2009.
Michael Pineda, Jeff Gray and Brandon League combined to hold Tampa Bay to one hit in a 3-2 win July 30, 2011.
The Mariners loaded the bases in the seventh on two walks and a bunt single by Michael Saunders. A sacrifice fly to left field by Brendan Ryan scored pinch-runner Casper Wells to push Seattle in front 3-0.
That ended a short night for Twins reliever Anthony Swarzak. Minnesota brought in left-handed Matt Maloney to face left-handed Ichiro Suzuki.
Ichiro tripled into the right-center field gap to score Dustin Ackley and Saunders. Seager followed with his homer to right field off Gray, who took over for Maloney.
The Twins loaded the bases against Hernandez in the fourth inning. Span singled and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. After Joe Mauer grounded out, Hernandez walked Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit to load the bases. Hernandez escaped the jam when he got Chris Parmelee to fly out.
Marquis walked Saunders and Ackley to open the bottom of the third. But Ryan failed to bunt the runners over and eventually struck out. Then Ichiro ended the inning by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play.
Marquis got the Mariners to ground into a double play during the second, third and fourth innings.
Minnesota's offense took another hit when Justin Morneau continued to experience pain in his left wrist Saturday. Morneau had surgery on the wrist in October. The Twins will place Morneau on the 15-day disabled list Monday.
Notes: A day after being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Cardinals, Erik Komatsu started in right field and hit eighth for the Twins. ... Coming into Saturday, Seattle catcher Jesus Montero was hitting .469 in the nine games he has caught. ... Friday's win by Minnesota was the first time the Twins won this season (1-12) when being outhit by their opponent.
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