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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SEATTLE (AP) – Paul Abbott of the Seattle Mariners wasn't concerned when he gave up a first-inning homer to Greg Vaughn.
|  | | John Olerud and Bret Boone both scored on a single by Carlos Guillen during Seattle's five-run first inning. |
"We've been digging and scrapping all year," Abbott said. "That's the way this team is."
Carlos Guillen singled in two runs in a five-run bottom of the first and the Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 7-4 Saturday night to match a franchise record with their 10th straight victory.
"We're playing good baseball," manager Lou Piniella said. "We go out and compete hard for nine innings. It's a formula that's working."
The Mariners (42-12) are 30 games over .500 for the first time and have a 16-game lead in the AL West just one-third of the way through the season. Only two teams, the 1939 New York Yankees and the 1912 New York Giants (both 43-11), had better starts than Seattle after 54 games.
The Mariners are 20-7 at home, 22-5 on the road and 15-2-1 in series.
After Vaughn gave the Devil Rays a 2-0 lead in the first with a two-run homer, his 14th of the season, the Mariners scored five runs without making an out.
"I was thinking, 'Keep adding on. Keep it going,"' Abbott said after raising his record to 4-2.
John Olerud and Bret Boone had RBI singles with the bases loaded, Mike Cameron was hit by a pitch by Ryan Rupe (2-5) with the bases loaded and Guillen singled to right for two runs.
"The big key obviously was that first inning," Boone said. "When you do that, it wears the down the other team."
For the Devil Rays, that was the game.
"If I could take a mulligan, that would be it," said Rupe, who made 42 pitches in the first inning.
Edgar Martinez had a two-run double that bounced off the center-field fence and Gerald Williams' shoulder in the fourth to put the Mariners ahead 7-2.
Randy Winn singled in Tampa Bay's third run in the sixth, while
Mike DiFelice of the Devil Rays hit his first homer of the season in the eighth.
Abbott pitched five innings, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks, with one strikeout.
Kazuhiro Sasaki pitched a perfect ninth for his major league-leading 22nd save in 25 chances.
Hal McRae was ejected for the third time in 41 games as Tampa
Bay's manager for arguing too strongly on a fan interference call
by first-base umpire Scott Higgins in the fifth. Higgins ruled that
Russ Johnson was out after a fan interfered with Mariners' right
fielder Ichiro Suzuki trying to make a catch in foul territory near the stands.
"I didn't think the ball was playable," McRae said. "I didn't think Suzuki would make the catch."
Suzuki disagreed.
"I was going to catch that ball," he said.
Suzuki had his major league-leading 28th multihit game, going 2-for-5. He leads the majors with 89 hits.
Vaughn was hit with a glancing blow in the batting helmet by a
Ryan Franklin pitch in the seventh. He was replaced by Jason Tyner in left field in the eighth so he could be looked at by trainer Jamie Reed and Dr. Chris Peterson, a Mariners team doctor.
"It appears he is OK," McRae said.
Rupe went four innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits and
three walks. He hit two batters.
Game notes
The Mariners tied their record winning streak set Sept. 12-21, 1996. ... The Devil Rays, who have baseball's worst record at
15-40, are 1-16-1 in series this season. ... Tampa Bay leads the
majors with 38 hit batters. ... Vaughn's homer was the 334th of his
career. ... Mark McLemore of the Mariners missed the game after
leaving Friday night's game with a stretched groin. ... Fred McGriff is batting .471 (8-for-17) in the first five games of Tampa Bay's road trip. ... LHP Brian Fuentes of the Mariners made his major-league debut in relief in the seventh.
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OTHER GAMES
Baseball Scoreboard
Tampa Bay Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 9
Cleveland 4
Baltimore 7
Oakland 0
Boston 2
Toronto 1
Chi. White Sox 5
Detroit 3
Texas 3
Minnesota 2
Anaheim 3
Kansas City 2
Seattle 7
Tampa Bay 4
St. Louis 8
Cincinnati 5
Colorado 7
San Francisco 5
Houston 2
Los Angeles 1
NY Mets 7
Florida 1
Chicago Cubs 10
Milwaukee 4
Montreal 12
Philadelphia 5
Atlanta 0
Pittsburgh 0
Arizona 2
San Diego 1
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