The M’s mustered six hits with Nelson Cruz connecting on his 28th homer while Robinson Cano drove in Kyle Seager.
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The Blue Jays host the Twins in a four-game series that opens with a Monday afternoon matinee.
Mariners: Cano returned as the DH from a three-game absence due to a strained abdominal muscle.
This was Morrison’s second at-bat since leaving Wednesday’s game because of a deep bruise on his left thumb. He only started swinging a bat Saturday – hitting off a tee and soft toss. The Mariners would eventually win 4-1 in 11 innings.
Having seen Duensing often during his time with the Tigers, manager Lloyd McClendon called Morrison back to the dugout moments before the at-bat.
“I thought he was going to be a patient hitter, but he just jumped on it,” Smith said.
Barring further trades, which club officials say are still possible, the Mariners are likely to recall first baseman/designated hitter Jesus Montero and infielder Ketel Marte from Tacoma. But that’s what he did.
“I didn’t think it was a bad pitch”, Iwakuma said. “I put a nice, easy swing on it and found a gap”.
“It doesn’t really hurt unless I get jammed”, Morrison said.
In a season where the bullpen has been unpredictable in close games, the Mariners added key insurance runs to ease the burden.
“I was excited; I was pumped up”, Suzuki said. Tom Wilhelmsen’s save was his second of the year.
Twins: CF Byron Buxton will travel Sunday to Florida for further rehab work on his sprained left thumb before getting in some minor league games. He’s now homered in each of his past three games.
McClendon said it “would certainly help quite a bit” if Elias were pitching better in the minors. Iwakuma hung a 0-1 curveball and Dozier yanked it into the left-field seats. Iwakuma retired Aaron Hicks and then gave up a single to Joe Mauer.
Lefty reliever Ryan O’Rourke, another rookie, debuted on July 7 and in 10 games has an ERA of 0.93 over 9.2 innings.
It was a disappointing end to Iwakuma’s otherwise brilliant outing. So perhaps they were due. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
Indians 2, Athletics 1: Danny Salazar pitched eight innings of one-hit ball, Michael Bourn doubled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth, and Cleveland beat Oakland for its third straight victory.
“Given the situation and the heightened intensity of that inning, they weren’t particularly paying a lot of attention to him”, said Twins manager Paul Molitor, whose base-running expertise has had a strong influence on his team. He dodged one bullet when left fielder Seth Smith ran down Eduardo Escobar’s leadoff drive at the wall.
Miguel Sano led off the ninth with a double and moved up on a fastball by Smith (1-5) that almost hit Torii Hunter in the head and sailed past catcher Mike Zunino.
“I was just trying to find out why he threw me out of the game,” he said. “I thought he was going to take a pitch or two.”. “You just got to kind of accept every day when you hit the pillow where you’re at. “That wasn”t it. I didn”t have the action I needed today to get the job done.
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The drama all came late after Hisashi Iwakuma and Minnesota starter Mike Pelfrey matched zeroes for eight innings. He received a no-decision in his last turn against the New York Yankees as he gave up four runs and four hits in six innings.
