Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Seattle 6, Minnesota 2
When: 2:10 PM ET, Sunday, May 18, 2014
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature: 69°
Umpires: Home - Adrian Johnson, 1B - Toby Basner, 2B - Larry Vanover, 3B - Angel Hernandez
Attendance: 32511


Mariners 6, Twins 2: Robinson Cano had a season-high four hits and drove in a run while Felix Hernandez tossed eight strong innings as Seattle avoided a sweep at Minnesota.

Hernandez (5-1) allowed two runs on seven singles and struck out five while Fernando Rodney worked around a two-out single in a non-save situation in the ninth inning. Michael Saunders finished with two hits and two RBIs for the Mariners, who snapped their four-game losing streak.

Trevor Plouffe singled twice and knocked in a pair of runs to supply Minnesota with its only offense. Ricky Nolasco (2-4) remained winless over his last four starts after yielding three runs for the fourth straight outing on six hits and three walks over five frames.

Minnesota struck first as each of its first two batters in the third reached and moved up a base on Hernandez’s wild pitch ahead of Plouffe, who lifted a two-out single to shallow right-center field that plated Aaron Hicks and Danny Santana. Cano led off the fourth with a single to extend his on-base streak to a major league-high 26 games and scored on Kyle Seager’s single before Nolasco escaped a bases-loaded jam by fanning Brad Miller.

The Twins’ right-hander was less fortunate in the fifth, however, as Seattle tied it on Saunders’ second triple of the season and moved ahead for good on Cano’s double off the wall in center two pitches later. The Mariners added a run in the sixth on Saunders’ sacrifice fly, another in the seventh as Justin Smoak stroked an RBI double to left off reliever Caleb Thielbar and one more in the ninth, when Cano scored on Matt Guerrier’s wild pitch.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Seattle DH Corey Hart left the game after suffering an apparent hamstring injury while stealing second base in the top of the fourth. … Minnesota fell to 9-4 in series finales and lost for the first time on Sunday in six tries. … Hernandez improved to 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA in three all-time starts at Target Field, but saw his ERA in 16 career outings against the Twins increase slightly to 2.08 – his lowest against any American League opponent.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Seattle   Minnesota
Felix Hernandez Player Ricky Nolasco
Win W/L Loss
8.0 IP 5.0
5 Strikeouts 3
7 Hits 6
2.25 ERA 5.40
Hitting
Seattle   Minnesota
Robinson Cano Player Jason Kubel
4 Hits 2
1 RBI 0
0 HR 0
5 TB 2
.800 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Seattle 11 0 16 .324 22 6 5 5 2 0
Minnesota 8 0 8 .242 12 6 2 1 0 0