Seattle 4, Twins 2

Joe Mauer and Francisco Liriano had stellar performances, but a lack of clutch hitting kept the Twins from beating Seattle.

By Joe Christensen, Star Tribune

Last update: July 6, 2006 - 5:37 AM

SEATTLE - Joe Mauer had four hits to become the major leagues' leading hitter, at .368.

Francisco Liriano pitched in and out of trouble, holding the Seattle Mariners to three runs in six innings for a quality start. And the Twins delivered another blow to their former teammate, Eddie Guardado.

But in the end, their continued failures with runners in scoring position were pivotal, as the Mariners held on for a 4-2 victory Tuesday night at Safeco Field.

The Twins fell to 2-6 on this 10-game road trip that has featured some of the same offensive futility they saw last year.

This time, they let Felix Hernandez (5-6) win Round 2 in the battle of young phenoms against Liriano.

On May 26, Hernandez took a 3-1 loss to Liriano and the Twins at the Metrodome, but this time he held them to one run in seven innings.

The Twins had six hits against Hernandez, including three by Mauer, but they finished the game 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

After going 0-for-18 with runners in scoring position over four games in Oakland, the Twins are now 1-for-28 in that category for June.

Those struggles made a cautious decision by third base coach Scott Ullger loom large over the early innings against Hernandez.

The key play came in the third inning, with the game still scoreless.

With Jason Kubel on first base, Mauer doubled into the right-field corner

Kubel looked as if he could score, but Ullger held him, leaving runners at second and third with one out.

Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki has one of baseball's best outfield arms, and Ullger said he didn't think Kubel could score.

"Did you see him running?" Ullger said. "I thought he was laboring into [third] base."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he thought Ullger made the right decision.

But considering how feeble the Twins have been in RBI situations, they missed a chance. And sure enough, Torii Hunter bounced out weakly to Hernandez, and Michael Cuddyer struck out to end the inning.

A run there would have given Liriano a lead to work with as he sought to remain undefeated.

The Twins had a good opportunity in the first inning as well.

With two outs, Mauer singled, Hunter doubled and Cuddyer walked to load the bases.

Up stepped Justin Morneau, who had watched Hernandez throw four pitches to Cuddyer, all balls. The last two pitches bounced in the dirt, in fact, and had the final one not gotten tangled in umpire Larry Poncino's legs, Mauer could have scored from third.

The situation begged for a patient plate appearance from Morneau, but he swung at the first pitch, grounding out weakly to second base.

Inning over.

Seattle took a 2-0 lead the next inning. Mauer trimmed it to 2-1 with a run-scoring double in the fifth.

Seattle made it 4-1 in the seventh, but Kubel's homer off Guardado forced Seattle to use four pitchers to finish the eighth inning.

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