Mariners Win This Battle of Best Records

Freddy Garcia won his fourth straight start and the Seattle Mariners took advantage of two mistakes by Atlanta to beat the Braves, 2-1, on Friday night at Seattle in a matchup between the teams with the two best records in the majors.

Garcia (7-6) lost his bid for a shutout in the eighth on Marcus Giles’ RBI double.

Meeting the Braves (44-21) for the first time ever, the Mariners (44-21) beat Russ Ortiz (7-4).

Garcia is 4-0 with a 2.37 earned-run average in his last four starts after opening the season with a 3-6 record and a 5.90 ERA in his first 10 outings.

The Mariners scored a run in the first on shortstop Rafael Furcal’s throwing error, and Andruw Jones made a costly baserunning blunder that turned into a double play in the second. After opening the inning with a single, Jones was ruled out for missing second while running back to first after Ichiro Suzuki made an over-the-shoulder catch.

Tampa Bay 7, Pittsburgh 1 -- Victor Zambrano gave up one run over seven innings at Tampa, Fla.

The Devil Rays ended a season-high seven game losing streak after Manager Lou Piniella said he will dye his hair any “legit color” the players want if the team put together three straight wins.

Kansas City 6, San Francisco 1 -- Michael Tucker and Desi Relaford hit two-run home runs for the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Barry Bonds failed to homer for the first time in five games, going two for four with two singles -- and a strikeout with two on in the ninth -- and reaching base for the 35th consecutive game. It’s the longest current streak in the majors.

Baltimore 7, Milwaukee 2 -- Jay Gibbons hit two homers at Baltimore, including his first career grand slam, and Sidney Ponson won his fifth straight start.

Florida 8, Texas 0 -- Ivan Rodriguez had an RBI single and scored twice in his first game as an opposing player at Arlington, Texas, and caught Florida’s third shutout of the season.

Rodriguez finished one for four, including the first of three straight RBI singles by Florida in the eighth to extend its lead.

Chicago White Sox 5, San Diego 3 -- Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas and Armando Rios each homered for the White Sox at Chicago.

Oakland 8, Montreal 4 -- Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer and drove in a career high-tying four runs, and Mark Mulder remained unbeaten at home. Mulder (9-4) ended his two-game losing streak by improving to 6-0 at home this season. He’s 9-0 over his last 13 starts in Oakland.

Boston 4, Houston 3 -- Ryan Rupe pitched six strong innings in his debut with the Red Sox and Johnny Damon hit a tiebreaking homer at Boston. Rupe was promoted Friday from triple-A Pawtucket, where he went after a poor spring training. The Red Sox claimed him on waivers Nov. 27 from Tampa Bay, where he spent four seasons.

Minnesota 3, Arizona 1 -- Torii Hunter’s two-run, tiebreaking single in the sixth inning gave Johan Santana the win at Minneapolis.

Colorado 7, Detroit 2 -- Chris Stynes hit a two-run single and Mark Sweeney had with a three-run homer in a six-run sixth inning at Detroit.

Toronto 5, Chicago Cubs 1 -- Kelvim Escobar struck out a season-high 10 at Toronto and the Blue Jays are eight games over .500 for the first time since May 1, 2001.

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Ralph Nelson, Major League Baseball’s vice president of umpiring, who signed the deal approving the use of the controversial QuesTec Umpire Information System that judges how well umpires call balls and strikes, has resigned.