Hisashi Iwakuma Back On His Game, Mariners Sweep Braves

Well isn’t this fun? The Seattle Mariners have now won five in a row after completing the two-game sweep of the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves with a 2-0 win in Atlanta on Sunday.

The Mariners sweep of the Braves is their second in a row (the Yankees sweep was a delayed one but a sweep nonetheless) and with the win, the Mariners are tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the 2nd AL Wild-Card spot.

Hisashi Iwakuma bounced back after back-to-back rough starts, scattering six hits and walking none while striking out seven in seven innings of work.

Willie Bloomquist got the start at 1st base today, giving the struggling Justin Smoak a day off. Skipper Lloyd McClendon also shook up the lineup again with Willie leading off, Stefen Romero batting cleanup and Endy Chavez getting another start.

Offensively, the Mariners were able to get a couple of timely hits. In the top of the 4th, Robinson Cano and Romero led off with back-to-back singles off Mike Minor. It appeared that this would be the M’s shot.

But after Kyle Seager flew out and Mike Zunino struck out, it looked as if Minor would escape the damage. But Cole Gillespie‘s 2-out RBI single drove in Cano for the first run of the game.

In the top of the 8th, Romero tripled with one out and was replaced by James Jones. Kyle Seager then followed with a single to bring in an insurance run.

Yoervis Medina and Fernando Rodney each pitched a perfect inning in relief to seal it.

Mike Minor allowed only five hits and three walks in 7 IP while striking out 10 M’s. It was a fun game to watch if you like pitcher’s duels. The game clocked in at two hours and 51 minutes.

Seattle remains six games back of Oakland, who have also won five in a row.

The Mariners get a much needed day off tomorrow before starting a series with the Tampa Bay Rays. But we don’t get a day off. We have wall-to-wall, all day coverage of the 2014 MLB Draft. We will look back at previous drafts, look at some of the players available to draft and we will have the selections for you as they happen.

BOX SCORE

Batting

Seattle

Batting

3B – S Romero (2, L Avilan)

S – H Iwakuma

RBI – K Seager (37), C Gillespie (2)

2-out RBI – C Gillespie

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – E Chavez 2, R Cano 1, B Miller 1

Team LOB – 10

Fielding

DP – 1 (R Cano-B Miller-W Bloomquist)

Atlanta

Batting

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out – E Gattis 1, M Minor 1

GIDP – C Johnson

Team LOB – 5

Pitching

Seattle

Atlanta

WP – M Minor

IBB – W Bloomquist (by M Minor)

Pitches-strikes – F Rodney 12-9; H Iwakuma 96-71; Y Medina 14-7; M Minor 109-66; L Avilan 4-3; S Simmons 10-6; D Carpenter 16-11

Ground balls-fly balls – F Rodney 1-1; H Iwakuma 16-1; Y Medina 1-1; M Minor 9-2; L Avilan 2-0; S Simmons 0-0; D Carpenter 1-1

Batters faced – F Rodney 3; H Iwakuma 26; Y Medina 3; M Minor 29; L Avilan 3; S Simmons 2; D Carpenter 5

Game Details

Game Time: 2:51.

Umpires: HP–Marty Foster. 1B–Will Little. 2B–Ted Barrett. 3B–Paul Schrieber.

Weather: 84 degrees, Mostly Cloudy.

Wind: 9 mph, Left to Right.

Attendance: 26,960.