Sexson, Ibanez hit Seattle's first consecutive homers

SEATTLE (AP) -- Seattle manager Mike Hargrove met with his team before Friday night's game to make sure a disappointing loss in New York didn't linger.

Instead, the power display Seattle put on in the Bronx two days earlier followed them home.

Adrian Beltre's three-run homer, a 440-foot shot off the top of the out-of-town scoreboard in left-center, highlighted a three-homer night for Seattle in a 14-7 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

"I wanted to make sure we didn't have any carry-over and take a step backward," Hargrove said. "We got big hits all night long."

Beltre had two hits and a season-high four RBI. Randy Winn added three hits, including a three-run double in the fifth that gave Seattle a 12-6 lead. Ichiro Suzuki had three hits, including an RBI triple.

Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez added solo home runs for Seattle in the third inning, the first time the Mariners hit consecutive homers this season.

Seattle, which hit four homers in Wednesday's 13-9 loss to the Yankees, tied a season high with 15 hits.

"The last series, the games in Boston, we were able to get it going a little bit and now we were able to keep it going here," Beltre said. "Hopefully we can do that more often."

The loss cost the Red Sox a chance to move into a first-place tie in the AL East with Baltimore and was just their third loss in the last 13 games.

"You know what, everything I did turned out wrong," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "We had a tough night."

Julio Mateo (1-0) won in relief of starter Joel Pineiro, who didn't get out of the fourth after giving up six runs and eight hits.

Mateo worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. He has given up one earned run in 22 innings this season.

"I feel like I did during my 2003 season right now," said Mateo, who was 4-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 50 games in 2003. "It's just going good for me right now."

Beltre's homer came in the fourth, after Seattle let leads of 3-0 and 5-4 slip away. With one out, Suzuki and Winn singled, knocking out Boston starter Jeremi Gonzalez (1-1).

In the previous 12 games, Boston's starters had been 8-0 with a 2.75 ERA.

Beltre was hitting just .188 against lefties but jumped on reliever John Halama's first pitch for his fourth homer. Beltre said he was just trying to get a fly ball deep enough to score Suzuki from third.

"I hit it and I knew it had a chance to get out," Beltre said. "I didn't know it was so far."

Seattle scored four times in the fifth off Halama, highlighted by Winn's one-out double to right-center.

Halama, who pitched for the Mariners from 1999 to 2002, allowed five runs and four hits in 1 2/3 innings.

"He has been so good. We brought him in a tough situation," Francona said. "You are surprised when something like that happens."

Mark Bellhorn homered for Boston during a four-run third. It was Bellhorn's first homer since last Sept. 15 -- a span of 156 at-bats. Further damage was avoided in the inning when Suzuki threw out Jason Varitek at the plate with two outs.

"It was going back and forth," Francona said. "Every time you go out and want a zero up there we got in trouble right away."

Johnny Damon singled in the third, extending his league-leading hitting streak to 18 games. Trot Nixon had a two-run homer in the fourth for Boston.

"It's been a nice little run," Damon said of his streak.

Sexson's homer gave him 10 for the season, surpassing his total from last year when he played in just 23 games before getting injured. He has five of Seattle's last 11 home runs.

Seattle won just its fifth home game and its first since beating Cleveland 9-1 on April 24.

Game notes
Red Sox left-hander David Wells threw a simulated game Friday that included fielding. Both Wells and Francona felt the session went well, but Francona would not put a timetable on Wells' return. "We need to see him bounce back," Francona said. "Tomorrow, we'll see how he feels." Wells went on the DL April 26 with a sprained right foot. ... Hargrove said there could be changes in the order of the Mariners' starting rotation but no one in the rotation would be replaced. ... Sue Bird of the WNBA champion Seattle Storm threw out the first pitch.