Everett's walkoff homer in 11th lifts Mariners past Twins

SEATTLE (AP) -- This was so sweet for Seattle, manager Mike Hargrove looked as if he might kiss Carl Everett.

Hargrove traded back slaps and hugs and then placed his hand on Everett's cheek -- all after his slumping veteran lined a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the surging Mariners a 10-9 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

The 35-year-old designated hitter was 2-for-20 on Seattle's homestand and batting .245 before his winning hit. The switch-hitter is being platooned, sitting against left-handed starters.

"I haven't been swinging the bat well," Everett said after Seattle's season-high fifth homer of the game. "To come through with the clutch hit was a little uplifting.

"I've played a long time. I just want to keep the peaks high than the valleys are low."

Everett pulled a 2-0 pitch from Jesse Crain (0-4) as if Crain had told him what was coming. He immediately flipped his bat to the ground, turned both shoulders to his dugout and skipped to first base to celebrate his second game-ending homer this season. The first was April 19 against Texas.

"For Carl to come through the way he did was absolutely fantastic," Hargrove said.

"Wins like that add to what we are trying to build here."

Ichiro Suzuki had four hits, including a home run on the first pitch of the first inning, as the AL West doormats the last two seasons won for the sixth time in seven games. This, after a six-game losing streak had them a season-low nine games under .500 -- and had many Seattle fans looking forward to Seahawks training camp.

"Once this team starts thinking things are getting easier, things go down," Suzuki said. "This team can't now take it easy ... we should apply pressure to ourselves and allow ourselves to grow in that way."

Minnesota, which got a career high-tying five RBI from Mike Cuddyer, four hits from Lew Ford and two hits from major league batting leader Joe Mauer, lost for the seventh time in nine games. The Twins scored three more runs than they had scored in their previous five games combined -- and still lost. Their 10-game road trip won't end soon enough here Thursday.

"It is frustrating to comeback, put nine runs on the board -- for us not to be able to get that victory is tough," Cuddyer said.

After Raul Ibanez had hit a three-run homer off Dennys Reyes to put Seattle ahead 9-4 in the sixth, Cuddyer erased that with a grand slam off Rafael Soriano to cap the Twins' five-run eighth.

One pitch before, the crowd and Soriano thought he had a strikeout on an 0-2 pitch, but plate umpire Bruce Dreckman ruled it high.

Julio Mateo (3-0) pitched one inning for the win.

Richie Sexson and Yuniesky Betancourt also homered, and Betancourt reached his career high with four hits. All that overcame Jamie Moyer's subpar, five-inning start, his shortest outing of the season.

Moyer allowed 10 hits and three earned runs in his five innings, with two walks and one strikeout.

Suzuki hit Boof Bonser's first pitch of the game into the right-field bleachers. Two outs later, Sexson homered to left for a 3-2 Seattle lead. Betancourt's two-run homer made it 5-2.

Bonser allowed five earned runs and seven hits in his five innings, with three walks and three strikeouts.

Mauer reached base five times, twice on walks. He was on base in his first nine plate appearances this series, until Seattle closer J.J. Putz retired him to end the top of the 10th.

Game notes
Mauer has a hit in 34 of 39 games, batting .403 in that span. He's hitting .371 overall. ... Suzuki has 2,501 hits in his nine years playing in Japan and five-plus seasons in Seattle, where the 32-year old has 1,223 major league hits. In major league history, only Ty Cobb has had 2,500 hits by age 32. "I think to myself, `Wow! That's many," Suzuki said. ... Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few, a friend of Spokane, Wash.-native and Twins C Mike Redmond, was on the field during batting practice.