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Jackson silences Mariners to stop Rays’ slide

Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford scores on a seventh-inning double. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Fred Goodall Associated Press
Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford scores on a seventh-inning double. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Edwin Jackson is beginning to repay the Tampa Bay Rays for their patience.

The right-hander allowed two hits in eight innings and the Rays pulled out of an offensive funk to beat the Seattle Mariners 7-0 Thursday to stop a four-game losing streak.

A 15-game loser in 2007, Jackson combined on a three-hitter and improved to 2-0. He didn’t get his first victory until June 24 last season, and had nine losses before getting his second win nearly a month later.

“When we lose four in a row, we all know that someone has to come and try to put out the fire,” Jackson said. “That was the objective for today – to try to keep the team in (the game) and go for the win.”

Eric Hinske homered off Miguel Batista (0-2) and Mike DiFelice drove in three runs to help the Rays win for the first time since Jackson allowed one run in six innings to beat the New York Yankees on Saturday.

DiFelice had a RBI single off Batista, who gave up four runs and eight hits in six-plus innings. B.J. Upton’s seventh-inning single off Eric O’Flaherty drove in the last two runs charged to the Seattle starter, and DiFelice followed with a two-run single for a 7-0 lead.

Jackson limited the Mariners to Adrian Beltre’s leadoff single in the fourth and Raul Ibanez’s two-out single in the sixth. He struck out six, walked four and only allowed one runner to reach third base.

Trever Miller pitched the ninth for Tampa Bay, giving up a leadoff single to Beltre before getting Ibanez to ground into a double play and striking out Richie Sexson to end the game.

Tampa Bay pitched a shutout for the first time since a 1-0 win at Boston on Sept. 10. Seattle was blanked for the first time since a 6-0 loss at Anaheim on Aug. 27.

The Mariners went 2-5 on a road trip that began with four straight losses at Baltimore.

“It was not a good road trip,” Seattle manager John McLaren said. “We did win the (Tampa Bay) series, but the Baltimore series really set us back.”

Notes

Seattle catcher Kenji Johjima is in a 0-for-22 slump. … Mariners closer J.J. Putz threw for 10 minutes on level ground in his second throwing session since injuring his rib cage on April 1. He could be cleared soon to work off a mound.