Branyan has slam, Rowland-Smith pitches M's to win

[August 10, 2009]  SEATTLE (AP) -- Russell Branyan broke out of a slump with his first grand slam in six years, Ryan Rowland-Smith rebounded from a shaky beginning to pitch effectively into the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners rolled over the Tampa Bay Rays 11-2 on Sunday.

Franklin Gutierrez's second consecutive three-hit game included a game-turning home run in the second inning off Scott Kazmir.

Scott Kazmir (6-7) continued to look like anything but Tampa Bay's pitching star of 2008, keeping the Rays from reaching a season-high 13 games over .500.

Rowland-Smith (2-1) allowed two early runs but nothing else. He struck out a season-high six in 6 2-3 innings, as Seattle took two of three games from last season's AL champions to stay on the fringes of the wild-card race.

The Mariners, who lost 101 games last season, were five games behind wild-card leader Boston, heading into the Red Sox-Yankees game Sunday night.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu moved Branyan from second to sixth in the batting order Sunday, and the slugger with a sore back was hitless in 11 at-bats before he smacked the first pitch he saw from Jeff Bennett in the sixth over the Rays' bullpen and off a back fence well beyond left field.

It was Branyan's first slam since July 21, 2003, when he was with Cincinnati -- one of nine teams for which he's played.

His 26th homer extended his career high. It was the first home run to left field in two years from the left-handed pull hitter.

Rowland-Smith broke about a half dozen bats and struck out Rays on big, looping curves and floating changeups in his fourth start of the season. He spent 3 1/2 months and the disabled list with elbow pain and then on an inconsistent rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues.

The left-hander's only mistake was a two-run home run by Dioner Navarro. That gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead in the second. Catcher Kenji Johjima set up low and inside on the 0-2 pitch, but the Australian centered it. And Navarro smashed it, extending the Rays' team-record of a home run in 14 straight games.

Ichiro Suzuki singled in the tying run in the second before Gutierrez hit a chest-high fastball from Kazmir for his career-high 14th home run to turn Seattle's 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Suzuki, who was 0 for 4 Saturday, has not gone hitless in consecutive games since Aug. 13-15, 2008. That span of 144 games is the longest such streak in the majors since 1954.

The longest AL streak of not going hitless in consecutive games is 164 by Earl Sheely of the 1923-24 Chicago White Sox.

Kazmir hasn't won on the road since May 9 at Boston. The 2008 All-Star and starting pitcher in Game 1 of last fall's World Series lasted just 4 1-3 innings, his shortest outing since he returned in late May from missing a month with a strained quadriceps. He allowed nine hits and seven runs, increasing his ERA to 6.50.

NOTES: Rays 1B Carlos Pena, tied for the AL lead with 28 home runs entering Sunday, sat because he was 0 for 5 with four strikeouts against Rowland-Smith. Willy Aybar played 1B and singled, walked and was hit by a pitch. ... Wakamatsu said 25-year-old RHP Doug Fister will make his first major league start Tuesday against the White Sox. Fister was selected from Triple-A Tacoma on Friday. He replaces struggling Jason Vargas. ... The "Mariner Moose" mascot drove his four-wheeler around the dirt warning track for the first time since he collided in it with Boston's Coco Crisp between innings last season. Crisp was stunned but not hurt. Attendants on both sides were watching this time to ensure no one was in the Moose's way. Last season's incident resulted in then-Seattle GM Bill Bavasi calling Boston manager Terry Francona in the dugout during the game to apologize.

[Associated Press; By GREGG BELL]

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