Mariners trail to loss against Rangers

By Associated Press

Story

Summary

Michael Young hit one of three home runs by Texas, a three-run shot in the third inning, and the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Friday night.

Story Published: Jul 10, 2009 at 9:14 PM PST

Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki climbs the wall, but can't catch a three-run home run hit by Texas Rangers' Michael Young in the third inning against the Seattle Mariners in a MLB baseball game Friday, July 10, 2009, at Safeco Field in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

SEATTLE (AP) - Michael Young hit one of three home runs by Texas, a three-run shot in the third inning, and the Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Friday night.

Hank Blalock hit his 18th homer, a solo shot in the second, and Nelson Cruz added a two-run shot in the eighth, his 21st.

Young and Blalock are a combined 23 of 57 (.404) against Seattle this season with four home runs and 10 RBIs in seven games.

Scott Feldman (8-2) went 6 2-3 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs. He was 6-8 last season with a 5.29 ERA.

Frank Francisco had a routine ninth to pick up his 15th save in 17 opportunities.

Brandon Morrow (0-4) went five innings, allowing four runs and six hits. He has yielded six home runs in his last four starts.

Ken Griffey Jr. had three hits for the Mariners.

Ichiro Suzuki, who had two hits to raise his major league-leading average to .362, opened the Seattle first with a single and he scored without a throw when Russell Branyan doubled into the gap in left-center gap.

Griffey reached on a fielder's choice and he scored from first when Franklin Gutierrez extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with a double into the gap in right-center to make it 2-0.

The Rangers made it 2-1 in the second on Blalock's 435-foot homer, the 18th of his career against Seattle.

Texas took advantage of Morrow's control problems in a three-run third. Omar Vizquel and Ian Kinsler drew consecutive one-out walks followed by Young's first-pitch blast, his 11th, for a 4-2 lead.

Cruz's home run made it 6-2, but the Mariners scored two in the eighth on Gutierrez's RBI groundout and Kenji Johjima's RBI double.