Mariners’ Start Gets More Special

Freddy Garcia pitched seven strong innings and Mark McLemore hit a home run Tuesday night as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 3-2, at Seattle for their sixth consecutive victory.

The Mariners (38-12) moved a franchise-high 26 games over .500 and are off to the best start in the majors after 50 games since the 1984 Detroit Tigers began the season 39-11.

Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle’s sensational rookie from Japan, contributed three outstanding catches in right field and went two for four, with a run batted in and a double. Suzuki leads the majors with 83 hits and is hitting .358, third best in the American League.

Garcia (5-0) gave up two runs--one earned--and four hits in seven innings.

Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 23 opportunities. He became the second reliever to get 20 saves in 50 games or fewer. Lee Smith had 20 saves in 46 games with the Baltimore Orioles in 1994.

McLemore gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the third with a home run, his fourth of the season, against Willis Roberts (5-4).

The Orioles, 0-8 at Safeco Field, tied the score with a run in the fifth on singles by Melvin Mora and Delino DeShields, and Brook Fordyce’s run-scoring groundout.

The Mariners scored two runs in the bottom of the inning on four singles. After hits by Carlos Guillen and David Bell, Suzuki and Edgar Martinez hit run-scoring singles.

The Orioles scored an unearned run in the sixth after Brady Anderson opened the inning with a single to center and Mike Cameron committed a fielding error to allow Anderson to go to second.

Suzuki made a nice, running catch of Mike Bordick’s fall in foul territory and Anderson moved to third. Anderson scored on Chris Richard’s groundout.

Suzuki made his other outstanding catch for the third out of the third inning. He ran over and caught Anderson’s long drive with a sliding catch near the foul line.

Roberts pitched an eight-hitter for the complete game of his career.

Tampa Bay 5, Oakland 1--Greg Vaughn hit a three-run homer and Tanyon Sturtze gave up six hits over seven innings for the Devil Rays at Oakland.

Mike DiFelice had three hits and Randy Winn had a run-scoring double as the Devil Rays, who have the majors’ worst record at 15-36, opened a nine-game trip with only their fourth victory in 14 games.

Sturtze (2-4), who was rocked for 14 runs and 16 hits in his last two starts, mostly shut down the A’s lineup while pitching out of trouble in the fifth and seventh innings.

Starting pitching has been troublesome for the Devil Rays, who have the majors’ second-worst team earned-run average, but Sturtze kept the A’s in check despite walking five batters, among them three in a row in the fifth to force in a run. Sturtze struck out four while matching his longest start of the season.

Toronto 4, Chicago 0--Alex Gonzalez drove in two runs and Chris Carpenter continued his mastery at Chicago with a complete game.

It was Carpenter’s first complete-game shutout since July 3, 1999, when he beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-0. He has four shutouts and nine complete games.

The loss ended a season-high five-game winning streak for the White Sox, who were shut out for the second time.

Carpenter (5-2) gave up six hits and struck out seven as he improved his record at Comiskey Park to 5-0 in six starts. He’s 7-1 overall against the White Sox, his only loss coming last week.

“We’re starting to see his potential,” Blue Jay Manager Buck Martinez said. “I think he’s starting to understand how dominant he can be.”

Cleveland 6, Detroit 4--Jim Thome became the Indians’ all-time leader in home runs and Roberto Alomar hit a tiebreaking two-run shot in the seventh inning at Detroit.

The Indians were without Manager Charlie Manuel, who was serving the first of a two-game suspension for returning to the field after being ejected from a game last week.

The victory ended the Indians’ three-game losing streak. The Tigers have lost six of seven.

Thome led off the fourth inning with his 243rd homer, moving past Albert Belle into first place in Indian history.

Texas 8, Kansas City 2--Rafael Palmeiro hit two home runs and drove in four runs at Arlington, Texas, as the Rangers handed the Royals their fifth consecutive loss.

Rick Helling (3-6) gave up two runs and seven hits in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time this season. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

The Royals (18-33) are off to their worst 51-game start in the 33-year history of the franchise.

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Best records after 50 games since 1950:

1953 New York Yankees* 39-11

1984 Detroit Tigers* 39-11

1955 Brooklyn Dodgers* 38-12

2001 Seattle Mariners 38-12

1998 Atlanta Braves 37-13

1998 New York Yankees* 37-13

*-Won World Series

Source: retrosheet.org