The Seattle Mariners avoid the sweep. For full coverage, head over to SB Nation's Lookout Landing.
(Sports Network) - The Minnesota Twins will attempt to complete a three-game road sweep of the lowly Seattle Mariners today at Safeco Field.
Carl Pavano, one of the majors' most surprising performers in 2010, will take the ball for Minnesota today. On Tuesday, Pavano struggled against Texas, allowing four earned runs on eight hits in eight innings en route to defeat. He has now lost back-to-back starts for the first time since May. The veteran righty is 15-9 this season with a 3.56 ERA and six complete games.
Over the last decade, Pavano has only thrown a total of 20 innings against Seattle and owns a 1-1 mark against Mariners during that time with a 4.05 ERA.
Luke French, who is set to get the ball for Seattle today, is a young left- hander who continues to search for some consistency. French is 2-4 this season with a 4.57 ERA, and he has only 18 strikeouts with 16 walks in 45 1/3 innings. Last Sunday, he allowed five runs on five hits and five walks in five innings of a loss to the Yankees.
French is 0-1 with a 5.06 ERA in his brief career against the Twins.
On Saturday, Nick Blackburn hurled 8 2/3 scoreless innings and Denard Span drove in the lone run as Minnesota clipped Seattle, 1-0.
Blackburn (8-8) yielded two hits to win for the first time since June 29, and failed to allow a run in a start for the first time since May 9 against Baltimore.
He retired 21 batters in succession from the second through the ninth and finished with a season-high six strikeouts. Brian Fuentes made his Twins debut a successful one, a four-pitch strikeout to notch his 24th save.
"That was good. Joe (Mauer) and I had these guys off balance. They just weren't putting good swings on the ball," Blackburn said of his start. "I was getting away with pitches down the middle and they just were looking for something else, so they were beating it into the ground."
Delmon Young added two hits and Danny Valencia scored for the Twins, who have won three in a row and extended their lead over Chicago in the AL Central to 4 1/2 games after the White Sox lost to the Yankees later Saturday.
Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson left the game in the second inning with a right ankle sprain, and Minnesota DH Jim Thome later exited with back stiffness.
Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez collected the lone hits for the Mariners, who suffered their sixth loss in seven.
Doug Fister (4-10) was the hard-luck loser as he scattered six hits and one run over seven innings, fanning six with two walks.
Minnesota has won six of its nine meetings with the Mariners this season.
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Odds Shark 
Mariners Down Twins Behind Strong Performance From French
Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Luke French tossed seven strong innings to help the Seattle Mariners take a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins in the finale of a three-game set.
French (3-4) was charged with just one run on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts for the Mariners, who had dropped six of seven coming into the contest. Franklin Gutierrez went 2-for-3 with an RBI while Adam Moore drove in the winning run.
"It was great, timely hitting, that's the way this game is, you never know and never give up," said French. "Our guys put some good at bats together and got to (Pavano) a little bit, put up a couple runs and then the bullpen took care of the rest. It was just a clean game today."
Carl Pavano (15-10) took the loss despite a solid start after giving up two runs on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts over seven innings for the Twins, who had a three-game winning streak stopped. Michael Cuddyer's solo home run accounted for the Minnesota offense.
"Disappointing way to end the series here when you pitch that well, you only gave up two runs, but they pitched pretty well too, I guess," said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire.
Despite the loss, the Twins maintained a 4 1/2 game lead over Chicago, which lost to the Yankees on Sunday, for first place in the AL Central.
The pitchers were dominating the game through the first six innings, but Minnesota got on the board in the seventh on Cuddyer's solo home run, his 12th of the season.
Seattle, though, answered in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Jose Lopez singled and Casey Kotchman followed with a single. A wild pitch moved the runners up a base and Gutierrez tied the game with a single to left. Moore then hit into a fielder's choice that saw Kotchman score for a 2-1 lead.
Brandon League came on the mound for Seattle in the eighth and worked around a two-out single by J.J. Hardy.
David Aardsma pitched around a one-out single by Orlando Hudson in the ninth to pick up his 25th save of the season.
Game Notes
Minnesota hosts Detroit for three games starting on Tuesday...The Twins took six of the 10 games against Seattle this season...Seattle hosts the Angels for three games beginning Monday...Pavano fell to 1-2 against Seattle...French improved to 1-1 against Minnesota.
Aug 29 5:13p by Brian Floyd - 0 comments