SEATTLE (AP) – Jeremy Bonderman came within one out of a shutout and Craig Monroe hit a long homer, leading the Detroit Tigers past the Seattle Mariners 6-1 Friday night.
Bonderman, from Pasco, Wash., has 111 strikeouts this season, the most by a Tigers pitcher before the All-Star break in six years. But he had just four Friday night. The right-hander gave up six hits and walked none in 8 2-3 innings.
Seattle avoided being blanked for the 11th time this season when Raul Ibanez’s RBI single with two outs in the ninth chased Bonderman (8-4). With runners at first and second, Joel Zumaya struck out Richie Sexson to end it.
The Mariners have managed only one run in the past two games.
Magglio Ordonez, added to the AL All-Star team Friday as an injury replacement, had three hits to snap an 0-for-10 slump.
Detroit ran its way to its first two runs. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a walk from Joel Pineiro (6-8). Granderson then stole second without a throw and scored with two outs on Ordonez’s first single.
In the fifth inning, Chris Shelton singled. The first baseman then stole his first base of the season, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on Granderson’s sacrifice fly when center field Shin-Soo Choo’s throw was early, but way up the third-base line.
Monroe made it 3-0 with his 13th home run, a stunning shot four rows up into the second deck in left field leading off the seventh.
Former Mariner Carlos Guillen extended his hitting streak to 10 games in the eighth with a two-out single that scored Placido Polanco with the fourth run. Pineiro then departed, having allowed 10 hits. His fifth and sixth earned runs were charged to him when reliever Julio Mateo allowed Marcus Thames’ two-run double.
Seattle’s lone highlight came when All-Star Ichiro Suzuki threw out Ordonez trying to score on Monroe line drive in the fourth. Suzuki’s throw from medium-deep right field to catcher Kenji Johjima on a fly was so early, Ordonez didn’t bother to run to home plate. Instead, Ordonez ran toward the backstop and was called out for being out of the base line.
It was Suzuki’s seventh outfield assist this season, tied for the AL lead. Four of those have been at home plate, and three of those runners have been Tigers.
Notes: In 27 games since June 8, Detroit starters are 17-1 with a 2.77 ERA. … Seattle called up RHP Mark Lowe from Double-A San Antonio. Lowe, the team’s fifth-round draft pick in 2004, entered in the ninth and immediately loaded the bases on two singles and a hit batsman. He then struck out Placido Polanco, got Ivan Rodriguez to hit into a force play at home, and struck out Ordonez on a slider.
AP-ES-07-08-06 0039EDT
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