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Mariners finally beat Pedro Martinez
SEATTLE (Ticker) -- The
Seattle Mariners
finally figured out how to beat
Pedro Martinez
.
Randy Winn
's two-run single highlighted a four-run fourth inning as the Mariners posted their first win against Martinez in 14 tries with a 4-1 triumph over the
New York Mets
.
Martinez (7-2) had won his first 13 career decisions against Seattle - including six at Safeco Field - with a 1.30 ERA. In six innings, he yielded four runs, nine hits and struck out seven.
Mike Morse
broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when he plated fellow rookie
Jeremy Reed
with a single to shallow center field.
Dave Hansen
followed with a run-scoring double to right. Two batters later, Winn capped the frame by driving in Morse and Hansen.
"There's nothing you can do," Martinez said of the Mariners' big inning. "I executed right, I thought, because they didn't hit the ball with power except on the pitch to (Randy) Winn and the line drive up the middle. Every other hit was a little blooper or a little ground ball. You just have to let it go."
"He is Pedro," Reed said. "He's going to get win. Luckily we were able to have a good inning against him and score some runs."
While Seattle failed to score in the first inning, Martinez did look human, allowing a double to Winn and a single to
Raul Ibanez
.
"Randy and Raul set the tone early," Reed said. "They showed us younger guys that we can do that."
In picking up his first win in six home starts this season,
Ryan Franklin
(3-8) allowed one run and five hits and eight innings. He struck out four and walked three.
Franklin knew going in that he would have to be sharp to come away with a win against Martinez.
"If you can match him pitch for pitch and keep going out there not giving up too many runs, you'll have a chance to win," Franklin said. "We got a few ground balls that hit the holes, and that was pretty much the game."
Eddie Guardado
worked around a two-out single in the ninth for his 19th save, tying him with Cleveland's
Bob Wickman
for the American League lead.
The Mets had a chance to score in the second with runners at first and second and two out.
Doug Mientkiewicz
doubled to left field but
David Wright
was thrown out at third before
Mike Piazza
could cross the plate.
Mets manager
Willie Randolph
blamed Wright for the play.
"David was being aggressive, but the bottom line is you can't make an out at third base in a situation like that," Randolph said. "When you're not playing particularly well, those things just become magnified. It kind of killed our momentum right there for a second, but we still had a lot of game to play."
Seattle's
Richie Sexson
and manager
Mike Hargrove
were ejected by plate umpire Dale Scott in the first for arguing balls and strikes.
Sexson, who is 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts in his career against Martinez, felt the pitch he struck out on was low.
"You do it because you're emotionally involved in the game or you felt strongly about something that didn't go your way," Sexson said. "In turn, you snap a little bit. You don't want to get thrown out, but it's ok because we won the game."
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