ESPN.com Seattle/Minnesota recap

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Wednesday, May 23 1:05pm ET
Bell's late homer wins it for M's

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – David Bell just missed beating the Minnesota Twins with a home run in the series opener.

A day later, he got the job done.


	Kazuhiro Sasaki escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning on Wednesday en route to his 18th save.

Bell hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning, leading the Seattle Mariners over the Twins 5-4 Wednesday for a split in the two-game series between baseball's best teams.

"He hit four home runs in this series," Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "Unfortunately, three of them were foul."

Bell nearly hit a grand slam in the seventh inning Tuesday night, but the ball sailed just outside the left-field foul pole as the Twins won 12-11.

"That would have been nice, but you can't dwell on it," Bell said. "If you hit the ball foul, there's usually a reason for it. I was anxious to get back out there today."

Bell got his chance with the score tied at 4-all in the eighth inning. Torii Hunter had hit a three-run homer for the Twins and Luis Rivas had tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the seventh off Freddy Garcia.

Bell homered an inning later off Hector Carrasco (2-1), who had pitched six straight scoreless innings.

"It's nice to finally keep them fair," said Bell, who also hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Seattle, the AL West leader, is off to the best start in franchise history at 33-12. Minnesota, first in the AL Central, is 30-14, its best start since going 31-13 in 1970.

Arthur Rhodes (4-0) got out two outs for the win, and Kazuhiro Sasaki, Seattle's fourth pitcher, relieved with the bases loaded in the eighth.

After Rhodes and Jeff Nelson walked the bases loaded with one out, Sasaki struck out Jacque Jones and retired pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski on a flyout.

Sasaki, last season's AL Rookie of the Year, pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two, for his 18th save in 20 chances.

"He got two saves," Piniella said. "One in the eighth and one in the ninth."

Minnesota's Doug Mientkiewicz was equally impressed.

"He's got a great split-finger," he said. "I don't think he's overpowering, by any means. But he gets the job done."

The day game drew 26,605 to the Metrodome, leaving the Twins with a 21,042 average for 24 home games, up from an average of 13,093 average for all of last season.

"That's the thing I'm most pleased with, the fans' response here," Piniella said.

Garcia allowed four runs, seven hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings, while Minnesota's Eric Milton gave up four runs and 10 hits in seven innings.

"I don't think Milton had his best game ever, but he battled," Kelly said.

Edgar Martinez homered to put Seattle ahead in the first, but Hunter made it 3-1 Minnesota with the only hit off Garcia in the first three innings.

Bell's sacrifice fly pulled Seattle within a run and Dan Wilson tied it with an RBI single in the sixth.

Bret Boone, batting cleanup for the first time this season, hit a run-scoring single in the seventh, driving in Ichiro Suzuki from second base for a 4-3 lead.

Minnesota left the bases loaded in the sixth when Hunter hit an inning-ending flyout.

Game notes
Minnesota LHP Mark Redman was placed on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained muscle in his throwing arm. LHP Brad Thomas was recalled form Double-A New Britain and will start against Oakland in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday. ... INF Ed Sprague made his first start for the Mariners, giving John Olerud a day off at 1B. ... Fans were warned in the fifth to not throw objects on the field. The Twins almost had to forfeit a May 2 game against the New York Yankees because fans threw objects at Chuck Knoblauch.