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Another series win Mariners edge Giants, move to 40 games above .500
Updated: Sunday July 15, 2001 4:33 AM
SEATTLE (AP) -- Freddy Garcia was trying to concentrate on pitching to the San Francisco Giants in the first inning when the fire alarms started going off at Safeco Field. "I didn't know what was going on," he said. Garcia won his fifth straight decision as the Seattle Mariners won their 22nd series of the season with a 3-2 victory Saturday. There wasn't any fire, but the game was delayed twice for about two minutes each time when an exhaust fan in a concession stand caused the fire alarms to go off. It was not known if the fan was not turned on or if it was faulty. The 45,809 fans were advised to stay in their seats because there was no fire. "I didn't want to lose my rhythm because sometimes you can lose your rhythm when you have a delay for three or four minutes like that," Garcia said. Garcia (11-1), the winning pitcher in Tuesday night's All-Star Game at Safeco Field, allowed two runs on three hits in six innings. He walked one, hit a batter and struck out two. Garcia, who came in with consecutive shutouts and 20 2-3 consecutive scoreless innings, allowed solo home runs to Rich Aurilia in the first inning and Armando Rios in the fourth. "Freddy's pitching with a lot of confidence, obviously," manager Lou Piniella said. "To me, he's getting better and better." Mariners shortstop Carlos Guillen, Garcia's countryman from Venezuela, agreed with Piniella. "To me, he's one of the best already," Guillen said. "He's young, too. He's going to get better as he gets more experience." Garcia, 24, acquired in a trade July 31, 1998, from Houston for Randy Johnson, pitched one inning and made seven pitches in the All-Star Game. He hit Jeff Kent with a pitch in the shoulder blade and gave up a single to Rios to open the seventh before retiring the next three hitters. "I feel pretty good," Garcia said. "I have good confidence and good concentration now. I'm hitting my spots with my fastball." Seattle's bullpen, which pitched two scoreless innings, threw 10 2-3 scoreless innings in the series. Jeff Nelson and Arthur Rhodes pitched the eighth, while Kazuhiro Sasaki the ninth for his major league-leading 30th save in 34 opportunities. Ichiro Suzuki, who leads the majors with 135 hits, failed to get a hit for the second straight game for the first time this season, but played a key role for Seattle, which improved to 22-4-3 in series in 2001. The Mariners rookie right fielder, a seven-time Gold Glove winner in Japan, took a home run away from Kent by leaping over the fence to snare a drive in the fourth before Rios homered. Fants chanted "Ichiro! Ichiro!" after the catch and gave him a standing ovation as he went into the dugout after the inning. Suzuki scored Seattle's first run in the first when he walked, went to second on pitcher Shawn Estes' error on an attempted pickoff throw to first and came home on Edgar Martinez's bloop single to right. After the game, Suzuki was asked about making contributions with his defense, while he is struggling on offense. "That's a question the Japanese media would ask," said Suzuki, who is boycotting the Japanese media along with Sasaki, his countryman. Suzuki rated his catch as a 10 in degree of difficulty. "That's the best I could do," he said. In the second, Suzuki had a sacrifice fly after singles by Ed Sprague and Dan Wilson. The Mariners' third run in the third was unearned. Bret Boone doubled and went to third when left fielder Marvin Benard overthrew second base. Boone scored on Mike Cameron's sacrifice fly. Estes (7-4) lost his second straight start, allowing three runs, two earned, on six hits in six innings. He tied his career high with seven walks, one intentional, and struck out two. "We need to concern ourselves with winning close games," Estes said. The Giants fell to 4-9 in one-run games on the road. "We played them tough, but a loss is a loss," manager Dusty Baker said. Notes: Aaron Sele (10-1) will pitch for the Mariners on Sunday night against Arizona. ... The Mariners are 54-2 in games in which they led after seven innings. ... At 65-25, the Mariners are 40 games over .500 for the third time this season. ... Suzuki stole his AL-leading 30th base. ... Suzuki went 0-for-1, making him 0-for-8 for the first time this season. He's in a 2-for-17 slump and his batting average has dropped to .341.
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