The Mariners came a bit undone defensively in the bottom of the seventh and trail 4-2 as a result. Minnesota scored twice that frame, with a lot of help from a balk called on Doug Fister.
Fister got his sixth strikeout to start things off, then saw Rene Rivera hit a ball down the right field line. Ichiro ran in on it, but pulled up late and allowed the ball to drop in for a single.
Ichiro made a nice decoy move on an ensuing Alexi Casilla hit off the right field wall. The ball was hit off the wall on a line, but Ichiro made like he was about to catch it and fooled Casilla into slowing up and settling for a single while Rivera took third.
The balk was called after that as Fister feinted towards third, then threw to first base.
That brought the run home and sent Casilla to second representing a big insurance run. Denard Span then lined a hit to left that Carlos Peguero charged in on. Peguero then came up throwing and Chone Figgins let it go on through without cutting the ball off.
The run scored and Miguel Olivo -- backing the play up -- let it roll through his five-hole for an error that send Span to third with one out. It didn't cost Seattle any more runs as Fister got a huge second out and Aaron Laffey retired the side.
But the M's went 1-2-3 in the eighth and are now three outs away from defeat.
6:42 p.m.: Doug Fister has settled in nicely, giving up a single in the sixth but otherwise getting through the frame with the 2-2 score unchanged. Fister has allowed just two hits -- one an infield single that Denard Span legged out after a nice, diving stop of a grounder by Brendan Ryan at shortstop.
Anybody else but Span running and that's a Web Gem on ESPN.
6:07 p.m.: Miguel Olivo just tied things up with one swing of the bat in the fourth inning, depositing the two-out offering by Nick Blackburn over the wall in left center with Justin Smoak aboard. Smoak had reached on a one-out single.
So, just like that, we're tied 2-2. The Rangers are losing early to the White Sox as well, so Seattle is poised to gain some ground if it can win this one.
6:03 p.m.: Minnesota leads 2-0 after Matt Tolbert executed a suicide squeeze bunt in the bottom of the third inning. Alexi Casilla led things off with a double to right center that Carlos Peguero did a nice job running down, only to have it pop out of his glove. That's happened a few times since his great catch last week.
Casilla took third on a ground out and then Tolbert got the squeeze bunt down perfectly, leaving Miguel Olivo no choice but to throw to firs base.
5:39 p.m.: You don't see that very often. Doug Fister just struck out the side in the bottom of the second inning to keep it a 1-0 game. Got swinging strikeouts on Delmon Young and Danny Valencia, then a called one that former M's catcher Rene -- I can't believe he's still playing -- Rivera didn't like the call on.
5:34 p.m: The M's looked to have something going in the second after a leadoff double by Jack Cust. But Miguel Olivo went down swinging and then Adam Kennedy had a hard line drive to right caught on the run by Jason Kubel.
Cust was almost at third base by the time the ball was caught and had zero chance to make it back to second. He was only halfway to the bag by the time the throw arrived to double him off. Still 1-0 for the Twins.
5:27 p.m.: And the Twins take a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a leadoff triple by Denard Span, followed by a one-out single from Jason Kubel. The quirky at-bat of the inning went to Matt Tolbert, who lost the grip on his bat not once, but twice, while swinging at pitches by Doug Fister in striking out. Fortunately, no one got hurt by the flying wood.
Figgins watch: Flied out to center. Got good wood on the ball.
5:04 p.m.: Doug Fister will try to keep this six-game winning streak going against Nick Blackburn. Remember him? Blackburn is one of the guys who was rumored to be on the block three years ago when the Mariners were said to have a shot at trading Jarrod Washburn to Minnesota in August of 2008.
So, a trade of "burn" guys. Ha, ha.
The M's were said to have a chance to offload all of Washburn's salary for the rest of 2008 and all of 2009 and get a player as well. Minnesota sources denied emphatically in the media here that Blackburn was the guy. We'll never know. All we know is, the M's dealt Washburn to the Tigers 11 months later for Luke French.
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