Mariners @ Twins : 3 - 4 (10 inniings)

Lew Ford found the problem with his swing watching video behind the Twins' dugout, and got immediate results from a small change in his approach. Ford led off the 10th inning with a game-winning home run off former teammate Eddie Guardado, lifting the Minnesota Twins to a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. The Twins completed their second three-game sweep of the season. The other was April 11-13 against Oakland at the Metrodome. The Mariners have been swept four times this year. Ford's homer, a 414-foot drive to right-center, was his second of the season and first since April 21. It came on a 1-2 pitch from Guardado (0-3), who played for the Twins for 11 seasons before signing with the Mariners in 2003. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire suggested to Ford that he watch video of his prior at-bats on a monitor behind the dugout before going up to the plate in the 10th.

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Joel Pineiro delivers against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning in a major league baseball game, Sunday, May 28, 2006, in Minneapolis. Pineiro pitched 6 2-3 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits.

Guardado, who was demoted to part-time closer earlier this season, had been pitching well of late, not allowing a run in his past seven innings. Afterward, he lit into himself and his team, which has lost five straight. Minnesota's Justin Morneau added a two-run homer, which tied it at 2 in the fourth inning. Joe Mauer went 3-for-4. Jose Lopez hit a two-run homer but made a costly mistake for the Mariners, and Ichiro Suzuki went 4-for-5 for his second four-hit game of the season. Minnesota's Joe Nathan (3-0) got out of a jam in the 10th to earn the victory.

The Mariners squandered their chances in the late innings to go ahead. In the 10th, Nathan allowed back-to-back singles to Suzuki and Lopez to start the inning. Nathan was then helped by two outstanding plays in the outfield. Right fielder Michael Cuddyer made a nice catch on a drive by Raul Ibanez, and Suzuki failed to tag and advance to third because he was too far off second. Center fielder Torii Hunter then leaped against the fence to snag a drive by Richie Sexson. Nathan retired Adrian Beltre on a flyball to end the threat.

The Mariners had another golden chance to grab the lead in the seventh. Suzuki hit a one-out triple. With Lopez at the plate, Seattle tried a suicide squeeze. Suzuki broke toward home with the pitch, but Lopez popped it up to pitcher Johan Santana, who caught the ball and threw it to third baseman Luis Rodriguez for a double play. After Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly to put the Mariners up 3-2 in the fifth, the Twins tied it in the sixth. Mauer led off the inning with a ground-rule double off starter Joel Pineiro. Mauer moved to third on Hunter's groundout and scored on Mike Redmond's sacrifice fly.

Pineiro, who had a 10.93 ERA in losing his past three starts coming in, gave up three runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. Santana, who had won four of his last five starts, allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings. He had five strikeouts to improve his AL-leading total to 80.