The Seattle Mariners are back on the horse, thanks to a dazzling performance by rookie power-pitcher Michael Pineda on Tuesday night. Pineda took the hill and was dominant out of the gate, only allowing two runs in the seventh, his final inning of work. For his efforts, Pineda was rewarded with the win while striking out seven and walking two in 7-1/3 innings of work at Safeco Field, giving the Mariners their second-straight win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Pineda came out firing, putting together a 1-2-3 inning in the first that ended with a strikeout of Jose Bautista. The young rookie continued to roll until the fourth, when he got himself into his first jam of the evening with runners on first and second with nobody out. But faced with adversity, Pineda battled back, striking out Adam Lind, getting Aaron Hill to fly-out and striking out J.P. Arencibia to end the inning with no harm done.
The Mariners offense sprung to life in the bottom of the third, giving Pineda all the cushion he needed. Ryan Langerhans took Ricky Romero deep with one on and nobody out, opening up a 2-0 lead early. After Jack Wilson reached on an error and stole second, Milton Bradley brought him around to score, giving Pineda and the Mariners a 3-0 lead.
Pineda’s only struggles came in the seventh as he put runners at second and third with one out. A Corey Patterson single brought Edwin Encarnacion and Yunel Escobar around to score as the Blue Jays cut the Mariners lead to one, 3-2. Pineda’s day was done, but Chris Ray came on to end the threat, inducing a double-play as Bautista popped-out to first and Patterson was thrown out at the plate.
Brandon League came on to pitch a scoreless ninth inning and the Mariners had their second win in-a-row. After starting the year with two-straight wins, the Mariners had lost seven-straight before Toronto came to town, but back-to-back wins have Seattle at 4-7 on the year as the team shows signs of life again.
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