Ichiro Suzuki is ready for another run at a batting title.
He hit a pair of solo home runs on Saturday as the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2.
Hitting .385 in July, he has raised his batting average 22 points this month to .316. He is within range of league leader Johnny Damon of Boston, hitting .337 entering the day.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"To be able to do the things I do and win the title, that would be the best-case scenario," Suzuki said through an interpreter. "But worrying about what others think or what kind of numbers I need to put up, I really don't think that way. I want to be able to play my game."
Suzuki's fourth-inning leadoff home run also broke a 75-year-old major-league record. That gave him 1,058 hits in his career, the most ever for a player in his first five big-league seasons, breaking the mark set by Paul Waner from 1926-1930. Waner reached 1,057 hits in 747 games, while Suzuki has played 737 games.
"I didn't know about that record," said Suzuki, the defending American League batting champion who broke the single-season hit record last year with 262. "When I heard of this record I thought to myself, `Man, there's a lot of records out there.'"
PHOTO: AP
The home run, his eighth this season and the first hit allowed by C.C. Sabathia, cut Cleveland's lead to 2-1 and was the longest of his career, a 428-foot shot off the glass windows of Safeco Field's right-field second deck restaurant. His previous longest was a 424-foot shot on Aug. 15 against the New York Yankees' Kevin Brown.
Suzuki hit his second shot into the right-field seats in the sixth to put the Mariners ahead. It was the third multihomer game of his career and also the third time Sabathia has allowed three home runs.
"Ichiro is not a home run hitter," manager Mike Hargrove said. "His whole game is hitting it on the ground, keeping in on the line, taking the extra base, stealing and scoring runs. But he has good pull power.
"Getting base hits is not an easy thing to do. He makes it look easy sometimes, but it's not easy," Hargrove added. "If it was easy everyone would hit .300 or .400 and get 250 hits a year. Since he has been here in the States, not even counting what he did in Japan, he has been absolutely amazing."
Sabathia, who has a career-high five straight losses, has had trouble with Suzuki, who is hitting .419 with two doubles, three triples and three home runs against him.
"With him, it's whatever he feels like that day," Sabathia said. "If he wants to take you to left and you throw a fastball away, he'll do that. You have to feel him out."
Suzuki is hitting .385 for July after a .243 June. He has the highest average among active players in July at .350.
YANKEES 8, ANGELS 7
Hideki Matsui's two-run double in the ninth inning capped a big comeback, and the New York Yankees took advantage of four walks by an exhausted Francisco Rodriguez to beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-7 on Saturday.
Bernie Williams and Jason Giambi homered for the Yankees, who got a stellar debut from starter Shawn Chacon and defeated the Angels for only the third time in nine meetings this season.
Juan Rivera connected for the AL West leaders and Paul Byrd threw seven solid innings, but Los Angeles' normally dependable bullpen blew a 7-3 lead in the last two innings.
Giambi's two-run shot in the eighth cut it to 7-5, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia brought in Rodriguez with one out. Pitching for the third straight day, he got out of that inning with no trouble, but tired in the ninth. He walked his first two batters before striking out Robinson Cano. Gary Sheffield then walked, and another free pass to Alex Rodriguez made it 7-6.
Rodriguez (2-2) threw his 36th pitch of the game to Matsui, who lined it into left-center. It was Rodriguez's fourth blown save in 29 chances this season, and first in six opportunities against New York.
Mariano Rivera (5-2) got the win pitching a perfect ninth.
White Sox 9, Orioles 6
At Baltimore, A.J. Pierzynski and Jermaine Dye hit successive homers in a four-run eighth inning for Chicago's win.
Joe Crede also connected for the White Sox, who made up deficits of 4-2 and 6-4 in handing the Orioles their 12th loss in 14 games. The defeat dropped Baltimore (51-52) under .500 for the first time since April 9.
Tadahito Iguchi led off the eighth with a walk off Chris Ray (0-3) and Paul Konerko singled with one out before Pierzynski hit his career-high 15th home run, a shot to right that made it 7-6. Four pitches later, Dye hit No. 21, the seventh time this season the White Sox have homered in consecutive at-bats.
Iguchi capped his second straight three-hit game with an RBI single in the ninth.
Neal Cotts (3-0) worked a perfect seventh, and Dustin Hermanson got three outs for his 24th save.
Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run homer and Brian Roberts had a two-run double for Baltimore.
Rangers 3, Blue Jays 2
At Toronto, Joaquin Benoit and four relievers combined on a six-hitter and Adrian Gonzalez homered to the lead Texas to its fourth straight victory.
Benoit (3-1) allowed two runs -- one earned -- on five hits, while striking out six and walking three in his third start of the season. Kevin Gryboski got the last out of the sixth, Brian Shouse worked the seventh, Kameron Loe the eighth and Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 26th save in 32 chances.
Red Sox 6, Twins 2
At Boston, David Wells allowed two runs in seven-plus innings in a victory over Minnesota after Manny Ramirez was taken out of Boston's lineup amid trade rumors.
Ramirez was removed from Boston's lineup just five minutes before the game, though the Red Sox said they had no trade to announce.
John Olerud drove in three runs and Gabe Kapler had two hits and scored twice as Ramirez's replacement.
Wells (9-5) took a shutout into the eighth and gave up seven hits, struck out three and didn't walk a batter.
Olerud singled in a run off Kyle Lohse (7-10) in the first inning. Lohse pitched five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits.
AJ Burnett pitched seven dominant innings to win his third start in a row, and help the Florida Marlins extend their winning streak to four games by beating the slumping Washington Nationals 3-0.
Burnett (8-6) walked the first batter, hit the second, then dominated, consistently reaching 97 or 98 mph (156 or 157 kph) on the scoreboard radar gun. He allowed four hits, including two infield singles, and struck out eight. Todd Jones pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save in 22 chances and his fourth in four days.
"He's not overthrowing. Before he used to wind up and see how hard he could throw. Now he has a pretty good idea of what he's doing. That's maturing," manager Jack McKeon said.
John Patterson (4-3) limited Florida to five hits in six innings, but he threw wild pitches to help Paul Lo Duca score twice.
Miguel Cabrera had the game's only RBI with a double in the seventh, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
The Nationals have lost a season-high six consecutive games, and 18 of 23.
Diamondbacks 3, Cubs 2
At Chicago, Arizona rookie Conor Jackson got his first two major league hits, including a go-ahead double in the eighth inning.
Making his first start in the major leagues, at first base, Jackson hit an RBI double to left in the eighth inning off Roberto Novoa (3-4) to score Troy Glaus and break a 2-all tie. He singled in the second inning for his first hit in his second at-bat.
Lance Cormier (7-1) replaced Michael Gosling with two men on and two outs in the sixth and walked Neifi Perez, who had doubled twice already, to load the bases. He struck out rookie Matt Murton to end the inning. Greg Aquino pitched the final two innings for his first save of the year.
Troy Glaus hit his 21st homer to lead off the sixth against Rich Hill to tie the game.
Cardinals 9, Dodgers 4
At Los Angeles, Jim Edmonds and John Mabry hit two-run homers early and David Eckstein added a three-run shot late, powering St. Louis over the Dodgers.
Jeff Suppan (10-7) won his fourth straight road start, allowing four runs and seven hits in five innings.
Derek Lowe (7-11) lost for the seventh time in nine decisions, allowing five runs and eight hits over five innings.
Jeff Kent hit his 19th homer for the Dodgers.
Astros 2, Mets 0
At Houston, Andy Pettitte baffled New York for eight shutout innings and Jason Lane spoiled an equally strong outing by Tom Glavine with a towering home run in the seventh inning, sending Houston 10 games over .500.
The Astros have won a season-best seven straight games and 13 of 14. They're also on a 25-5 roll and are 42-17 since bottoming out at 15 games under .500 in late May.
Pettitte (9-7) won his sixth straight decision, scattering three hits and two walks. He struck out six.
Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for his 26th save in 29 chances.
Brewers 7, Giants 1
At Milwaukee, Ben Sheets pitched a six-hitter and Geoff Jenkins hit a tiebreaking three-run double in the sixth inning as Milwaukee thrashed San Francisco.
Sheets (7-7) struck out eight in his ninth career complete game and first since Oct. 2 against St. Louis.
Pinch-hitter Wes Helms hit a three-run homer in the eighth for the Brewers, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in 12 home games against the Giants.
Giants starter Jason Schmidt (7-6) had allowed just one hit through 5 1-3 innings before consecutive singles by Rickie Weeks, Lyle Overbay and Carlos Lee loaded the bases. Jenkins followed with a three-run double into the right-field corner, making it 4-1.
Braves 9, Pirates 6
At Atlanta, rookie Jeff Francoeur homered and drove in four runs, and Atlanta used a seven-run sixth inning to rally past Pittsburgh for its fifth straight victory.
Francoeur's two-run double started the scoring in the sixth and gave the Braves their first lead at 4-3. Johnny Estrada and Kelly Johnson followed with RBI doubles to chase Mark Redman (5-11) with none out.
Rookie Kyle Davies (5-3) earned the win after being recalled from minor league Triple-A Richmond earlier in the day. The 21-year-old right-hander, who allowed two hits, three runs, three walks and a career-high eight strikeouts, trailed 3-0 after Bay hit his 19th homer in the first.
Reds 9, Padres 1
At San Diego, Aaron Harang threw eight strong innings against his hometown team, and Sean Casey and Javier Valentin homered as Cincinnati dropped the National League West-leading San Diego to two games under .500.
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