Eight is enough for Prince Kuma

Ok, so yesterday Joe Saunders choked and gave up 4 runs and Hector Noesi gave up a grand slam and our winning streak came to an end. But who says we cant start fresh with the Minnesota Twins? Hisashi Iwakuma was looking to keep his perfect record in tact as he took the mound for the Mariners. Iwakuma has pitched 3 times against the Twins and holds a 3-0 record and a 0.00 ERA in 20.2 innings. Not bad huh? 

The defense look really shady tonight. Nick Franklin had one and Kyle Seager added two more to the M's total for tonight, but thankfully it didn't hurt them. Iwakuma got through the first inning even after an error and a fielder's choice. The M's didn't get things started until the bottom of the second inning. Kyle Seager lead things off with his 26th double of the year and following him Justin Smoak singled and that put runners at the corners to begin the inning for the M's. Both Mike Zunino and Dustin Ackley hit back to back RBI singles to put the Mariners up 2-0. Brad Miller made it 3-0 on his sixth double of the year scoring Zunino and Ackley moved to third, and finally Officer Nick Franklin sent his eighth home run into the right field seats and the M's put up a six spot in the second and chased Twins starter Kevin Correia as well. 

In the bottom of the sixth the Mariners got two extra runs on the board. Michael Saunders lead things off with a single and then Henry Blanco doubled him home and the M's put their seventh run on the board. After that Ackley checked in with his third hit of the game by doubling home Blanco and the Mariners lead 8-0. Iwakuma gave the Mariners six innings despite having thrown 51 pitches through 3 innings. He was able to get out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning without allowing a run. He finished the night with 101 pitches and striking out 9 batters. 

Danny Farquhar was brought into the top of the seventh inning and with the way he pitched last night you would have never thought he had an ERA over 7. Farquhar threw two innings of shutout baseball while giving up just one hit and striking out 3 batters. Finally Oliver Perez was brought into the ninth and he didn't have the best outing tonight. Perez after getting two outs gave up two doubles that scored two runs for the Twins but after that Perez got Drew Butera to fly out and that was the ball game. 

The Mariners have now won 9 out of the last 10 games. Dustin Ackley's bat has come alive since the All-Star Break batting .421 (8-19). Raul Ibanez's bat seems to have cooled off though since the All-Star Break batting .150 (3-20). Nick Franklin's eight home runs are the most by an American League second basemen in his first 49 games since Hall of Famer Joe Gordon (NYY) in 1938. Tonight's win has also moved Seattle up in the standings; they are now 10 games back in the American League West and are only 7.5 back in the Wild Card. 

You can definitely say that the Mariners are the hottest team (next to the Tampa Bay Rays) in baseball. Tomorrow night the King's Court will be in session as Felix Hernandez will look to get his 12th win of the season.