The Seattle Mariners won their fourth consecutive series over the weekend, defeating the New York Yankees two games to one at Safeco Field.

The significance of the trend shouldn’t be overlooked. The Mariners (26-26) are playing great clutch baseball and the pitching staff/defense has allowed just 32 runs during a 10-3 stretch (2.46 per game).

However, there are some truths that can’t be sustainable if Seattle truly hopes to contend in what appears to be a soft AL West.

Lead off hitter Ichiro Suzuki is mired in an unusual slump. For the month of May the perennial hits king is batting .204. No. 2 hitter, third baseman Chone Figgins is batting .193 on the season.

Suzuki should rebound. Figgins, on the other hand, should never again be allowed near the No. 2 hole. Even last year when he batted a disappointing .259, his on-base percentage was .340. This year it’s .235.

A solution would be to bump the hot Adam Kennedy to the No. 2 hole. But he and first baseman Justin Smoak are the team’s best middle-of-the-order hitters. But what’s the point in having a mediocre middle if the top is faltering?

What Seattle ultimately needs is to make a bold trade to add a power bat and drop Figgins to the bottom of the lineup until he proves he can return to the form displayed while with the Los Angeles Angels.

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  SEATTLE
MARINERS
  Record: 26-26 (3rd place, 1.5 back in AL west).
  Next up: 1 p.m., today vs. Baltimore (24-27).
  Pitching: Doug Fister (2-5, 3.18) vs. Jake Arrieta (6-2, 4.57).
  Team statistics: Seattle’s stats
 

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–Aaron Fentress  

New York Yankees righthanded pitcher Phil Hughes, who has thrown two bullpen sessions in three days, is essentially at the stage he would typically be at in the opening week of spring training, so it could be another five or six weeks before he’s ready to return from the disabled list, The New York Daily News reported.

Until Friday’s session, Hughes, 24, hadn’t thrown off a mound since April 25, three days before he received a cortisone injection in his right shoulder.

It’s hard to say whether Hughes’ velocity is better than it had been, since he won’t get a good read on that until he’s pitching in games during his rehab. But, according to The Daily News, he said his arm “feels good and is pain-free,” the most important thing for him as he moves forward with his throwing program.

After Sunday’s session, in which he threw fastballs, changeups and curves, according to The New York Post, Hughes said, “Everything felt great.”

He is scheduled for another bullpen session on Wednesday and the hope is that he will be able to throw batting practice sometime during the weekend in Anaheim, The Post reported.

And although the physical aspect of his rehab is progressing well, Hughes said the hardest part is having the patience to go through the process.

“It’s tough being around the team and watching games every night and feeling like I’m not doing anything, but that’s part of it I guess,” Hughes told The Daily News. “I just have to do as much as I can do in one day and not really get too caught up in what the day is and how much season I have left. It is difficult, but what are you going to do?”

Hughes went on the disabled list with an 0-1 record and 13.94 ERA after three rocky starts this season. He was 18-8 with a 4.19 ERA in 2010.

SEATTLE, May 29 (UPI) — CC Sabathia held Seattle to one run over eight innings and Andruw Jones hit a bases-clearing double Sunday in the New York Yankees’ 7-1 win over the Mariners.

Sabathia (6-3) scattered five hits, walking three and striking out five for the Yankees, who avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Mariners.

The Yankees ace continued his dominance against the M’s, notching his sixth consecutive win over Seattle and improving to 8-1 in his last nine starts at Safeco Field.

New York struck for five runs in the third. After Robinson Cano made it 2-0 with an RBI single, Jones lashed a bases-loaded double into the right-field corner to break the game open.

Jason Vargas (3-3) was saddled with the loss, surrendering six runs on five hits in just three innings as the Mariners went down for only the third time in 13 games.

Justin Smoak homered to provide the M’s offense.

Seattle goes for the improbable sweep this afternoon as Jason Vargas takes on C.C. Sabathia. The Mariners have put their best defensive outfielders out there today, knowing that Vargas gives up plenty of flyballs.

Texas is losing 5-2 in the fourth to Kansas City. Technically, the M’s could be tied for first before this game even ends.

Read More: New York Yankees

Seattle, WA (Sports Network) – Adam Kennedy delivered an RBI bloop single in the 12th inning, lifting the Seattle Mariners to a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees.

With one out, Justin Smoak singled and Jack Cust doubled before Yankees closer Mariano Rivera intentionally walked Franklin Gutierrez to load the bases.

Kennedy then knocked an 0-1 fastball from Rivera (1-1) into shallow centerfield, scoring pinch runner Luis Rodriguez without a play at the plate.

“Sometimes in extra innings guys start to lose focus, but everybody stayed with it and the bullpen was great again and everybody had big at-bats,” said Kennedy.

“I think that’s my second hit off [Rivera] ever and my other one was just the same. It’s not easy.”

The Mariners have won 10 of their last 12 games, including the first two of this three-game series by one run each time.

The Yankees left runners in scoring position in the 10th and 11th innings and lost for the third time in five games.

“It’s frustrating,” New York manager Joe Girardi said. “We had leads in both of the games (in this series), that’s the frustrating part, and we weren’t able to hold them. We gave free baserunners and it hurt us.”

David Pauley (4-0) picked up the win for Seattle after pitching the last two innings.

Mariners starter Felix Hernandez nearly made it out of the game with the lead, but a costly walk to Derek Jeter in the seventh was followed by Curtis Granderson’s RBI triple to tie the game at 4-4.

Hernandez yielded six hits and five walks while striking out four. Yankees starter Ivan Nova was chased during Seattle’s three-run fourth and was charged with four runs on five hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings.

Jeter had two hits and became the Yankees’ all-time leader in stolen bases when he swiped second in the third inning. Jeter has 327 steals in pinstripes, breaking a first-place tie with Ricky Henderson.

Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer and Robinson Cano had a solo blast among this three hits for the Yankees.

Kennedy had three hits for Seattle, as did Gutierrez and Miguel Olivo, who was forced to leave the game after smacking his face in the dirt while sliding head first on an infield single in the 11th inning.

Cano belted a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall to lead off the second inning, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead with his 10th homer of the season.

The Mariners scratched out a run in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, sparked by Cust’s leadoff walk. He went to second base on Gutierrez’s single and scored after Kennedy and Olivo grounded into back-to-back force outs.

The Yankees moved back in front on Teixeira’s two-run homer to right field in the third inning, his 15th of the season, but the Mariners scored three in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead and chase Nova from the game.

Gutierrez singled leading off, moved to third on Kennedy’s double and both runners scored on Olivo’s ground-rule double, which hit off the warning track in right-center field and bounced over the wall. Olivo went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Brendan Ryan’s single up the middle.

Nova was pulled after walking Chone Figgins to put runners at first and second base with two outs and Hector Noesi got Smoak on a fly ball to end the inning.

“He just had no command tonight,” Girardi said of Nova.

Hernandez walked Jeter after getting a double play in the seventh, and it hurt him. Granderson followed with a triple off the wall in right field — Ichiro Suzuki jumped at the warning track, but missed the ball — and Jeter scored to tie the game at 4-4.

David Robertson struck out all three batters he faced in the bottom of the seventh. Hernandez was pulled to start the eighth and Aaron Laffey retired the two batters he faced before Jamey Wright got the final out for Seattle.

Joba Chamberlain got the final two outs for New York in the bottom of the eighth. Alex Rodriguez made a diving stop for the last one, throwing Ryan out by a step at first with two runners on base.

Neither team had a baserunner in the ninth, but the Yankees put runners at the corners with two outs in the 10th after Alex Rodriguez singled to left field and Cano roped a base hit to right. Brandon League got Russell Martin on a fly out to right to end the threat.

Kennedy grounded into a double play to end the bottom of the 10th and the Yankees stranded a runner at second in the 11th. Jack Wilson pinch ran for Olivo in the 11th, but the Mariners never got a runner past first.

This series started a nine-game road trip for the Yankees, who were just 1- for-9 with runners in scoring position Saturday, leaving nine men on base…The Mariners left 12 runners on base, but still improved to 2-0 on their 10-game homestand…Hernandez entered the game 4-0 in his last four starts against the Yankees.

Some weird stuff was going on at Safeco Field on Saturday night, including four fans sprinting onto the field in four different innings. Three of them were clothed, all of them were ungently subdued by security.

Even weirder: Felix Hernandez didn’t dominate the Yankees, as he has done in recent years, including a 3-0 mark and 0.35 earned-run average in three starts last season.

The game had numerous twists and turns along the way, but in the end — which was a long time coming — it was a now-familiar result for the Mariners before a Safeco crowd of 37,354:

The 5-4 win in 12 innings — with the decisive run coming off Mariano Rivera, of all people, on a walk-off Adam Kennedy bloop single — was their 10th in 12 games. It gave the Mariners sole possession of second place ahead of the Angels, and ensured a series victory over the Yankees heading into Sunday’s series finale.

“There’s a lot of fight in these guys,” Mariners manager Eric Wedge said. “They care about each other and play the game the right way.”

The winning rally off Rivera begin with a one-out single by Justin Smoak — the first hit by the top four in the batting order, which had been 0 for 20 to that point. Cleanup man Jack Cust liked it so much he followed with an opposite-field double to left, putting runners on second and third with one out.

“Great at-bat by Custy — that was the one right there,” Kennedy said.

The Yankees elected to walk Franklin Gutierrez to load the bases. On an 0-1 pitch, Kennedy punched a single to center, just over the infield and too far in front of center fielder Curtis Granderson for him to get it. Pinch runner Luis Rodriguez scored, setting off jubilation at Safeco as the Mariners moved above .500 at 26-25.

“That’s about the best I could hope for right there,” Kennedy said of the challenge of facing Rivera.

Asked what he was trying to do in the at-bat, Kennedy replied, “Survive, somehow. You know what’s coming, but I think that’s just my second hit off him, and the other one was just the same. It’s not easy.”

Kennedy remembered correctly — he had been 1 for 12 in his career off Rivera. He said the Mariners played the game with great intensity, exemplified by a head-first dive into first base by Miguel Olivo leading off the 11th.

“The intensity was there from the get-go,” Kennedy said. “The crowd was into it. It was a fun night. Sometimes in extra innings, guys start to lose focus, but everybody stayed with it. The bullpen was great, as always, and there were some big at-bats. It’s a fun team to be on.”

Of the on-field intruders, Kennedy said, “That was a little crazy. The nude guy was a first.”

Mariners relievers worked five scoreless innings in relief of Hernandez, with David Pauley getting the victory for the second night in a row.

Alex Rodriguez had saved the Mariners from taking the lead in the eighth when he made a brilliant, lunging, back-handed stop of a two-out smash by Brendan Ryan with two aboard. The ball was headed for the corner, but A-Rod threw out Ryan to end the inning.

Hernandez’s chances of earning his fifth straight victory against the Yankees disappeared in the seventh by virtue of a shaky defensive play from Ichiro, with the M’s on top 4-3. After Hernandez walked Derek Jeter with two outs on a 3-2 pitch, he went full on Curtis Granderson, who lofted a towering drive to right.

Ichiro drifted back and leapt for the ball, which was probably unnecessary. The ball sailed by his glove and banged off the wall. Jeter raced home with the tying run, and Granderson ended up on third with a triple. Hernandez got out of the inning by striking out Rodriguez with runners on first and third with his season-high 128th, and final, pitch.

Hernandez, who came into the game having given up just three homers in 72-2/3 innings this year, was touched for two in the first three innings by the Yankees. New York’s starting lineup had 70 combined homers coming into the game, compared to 19 for Seattle’s.

Robinson Cano had the first long ball off Hernandez, sending a 3-2 pitch on a line over the right-field wall leading off the second inning. That run matched the total given up by Hernandez last year in 26 innings over three starts (all victories) against the Yankees.

Mark Teixeira added a two-run shot, his 15th, in the third inning to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. A visibly frustrated Hernandez was muttering to himself as he came off the field.

The Mariners, who had pushed across a run in the second on a fielder’s choice by Miguel Olivo — their fifth straight run in this series to score on a ground out — erupted for the lead in the fourth.

Gutierrez led off with a hard grounder off the glove of shortstop Jeter. The play was originally ruled an error but the call was changed to a hit before the inning was over.

After Kennedy laced a double down the first-base line, Olivo drove a double to the gap in right-center to drive in two and tie the game, 3-3. Carlos Peguero struck out, but with the infield drawn in, the torrid Ryan singled up the middle to plate Olivo. Down 0-2, Ryan worked the count full before delivering one of his two hits on the night for his sixth multi-hit game in the last eight.,

Rookie Hector Noesi, who replaced Yankee starter Ivan Nova in the fourth, restored order with 2-1/3 scoreless innings.

Jeter had two hits in the game to give him 2,979 in his career. He also had his 327th stolen base in the third, surpassing Rickey Henderson for the Yankee record.

AL West standings
The Mariners are nipping at the heels of the first-place Rangers.
Team	W	L	Pct	GB
Texas	27	25	.519	—
Seattle	26	25	.510	½
Los Angeles	27	27	.500	1
Oakland	26	27	.491	1 ½