21 juni 2006

Mariners @ Dodgers : 9 - 4

Adrian Beltre's return to Dodger Stadium was just about perfect. Beltre hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat against his former teammates, added a double and two walks, and matched a career high by scoring four times to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 9-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. Beltre received a mixed reaction from the crowd of 43,949 when he hit a 1-1 pitch from Brad Penny (7-2) into the right-center field seats in the first. Beltre also doubled and scored in the third, flew out to the warning track in right in the fifth, walked and scored in the seventh, and walked and scored again in the ninth. He made his big-league debut with the Dodgers in 1998 at age 19. Beltre hit .334 with 48 homers and 121 RBIs in his last season with the Dodgers, but has struggled since signing with the Mariners. The 27-year-old third baseman has turned things around somewhat since being moved to second in the batting order, hitting safely in 17 of 19 games.

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin #55 tags out Yuniesky Betancourt #3 of Seattle Mariners in the second inning at Dodger Stadium during an interleague game on June 20, 2006 in Los Angeles, California. The Mariners defeated the Dodgers 9-4.

Richie Sexson had three hits including his 12th homer for the Mariners, who have won four straight games and 10 of 14. They are 7-0 interleague play -- all against the NL West. The Dodgers, who dropped out of a first-place tie with San Diego in the NL West, have lost four in a row and six of seven. Joel Pineiro (6-7) earned the victory, allowing 10 hits and four runs in 6 1-3 innings. He lost his previous two starts, giving up 15 hits and 11 earned runs in 9 1-3 innings. Pineiro is 9-4 with a 2.28 ERA in 19 interleague games. Rafael Soriano blanked the Dodgers over the final two innings to earn his second save.

After Beltre's seventh homer gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead, the Dodgers tied it in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Nomar Garciaparra, a throwing error by left fielder Ibanez and a wild pitch. The Mariners got a run in the second on Ichiro Suzuki's sacrifice fly, and another in the third when Sexson singled to drive in Beltre. Rookie Russell Martin hit a two-out, RBI single in the fourth, but Sexson hit a solo homer in the fifth to make it 5-3. The Mariners got two more runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Ibanez against Hong-Chih Kuo and Kenji Johjima off Jonathan Broxton. Both runs were charged to Kuo. J.D. Drew hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning. The Mariners scored their final two runs off Jae Seo in the ninth on an RBI double by Ibanez and a fielder's choice. Penny allowed five runs and 10 hits in six innings before being lifted for a pinch hitter. He walked none and struck out two.

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