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  Saturday, Aug. 26 9:05pm ET
Mariners have won just 2 of last 13
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

SEATTLE (AP) -- Joe Oliver knows better than any of Seattle's players what Lou Piniella has been going through the past two weeks because he was with the Mariners' manager in 1990 in Cincinnati when the Reds won it all.

Magglio Ordonez
White Sox center fielder Magglio Ordonez leaps in a failed attempt to catch a solo home run by Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez in the fifth inning Saturday.

"It hasn't been fun for him," Oliver said after the Mariners finally found some offensive pop again Saturday night, an 11-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox for just their second win in 13 games. "Lou wants to win this thing as much as anybody in this clubhouse."

Alex Rodriguez homered and Mike Cameron had three RBIs as Seattle scored 10 runs in a game for the first time since Aug. 8. The Mariners were held to four singles in a 4-1 loss to the White Sox on Friday.

"We played like a first-place team is supposed to play," Piniella said. "Let's hope we can build on it and get back on track."

The Mariners, snapping a six-game losing streak at home, increased their lead to 2½ games over second-place Oakland in the AL West. The Athletics lost to the New York Yankees 10-6 Saturday.

"You know they're eventually going to break out of the thing they are going through right now," Chicago manager Jerry Manuel said. "They are too good a club to continue to lose 11 out of 12 ballgames."

John Halama (11-6) gave up a single to Frank Thomas with two out in the first inning and then retired 16 straight batters before Tony Graffanino opened the seventh with a single.

Trailing 7-0, Chicago scored five runs in the seventh on a two-run double by Paul Konerko, an RBI single by Herbert Perry and a two-run single by Charles Johnson.

After the game, Piniella wasn't happy with Halama and Halama wasn't happy with Piniella. "He got in trouble in the seventh and couldn't get out of it," Piniella said. "I was hoping he'd go deeper in the ballgame."

Halama was unhappy about not making a start in 10 days. "It's not that easy," he said. "In fact, it's hard. I tried to go out and do the best I could, but being in the bullpen is not the same as being out on the mound."

The Mariners took a 3-0 lead after Rocky Biddle got two outs in the fourth. Edgar Martinez, John Olerud and Carlos Guillen singled with Martinez scoring from third on Guillen's hit. After Cameron walked to load the bases, Oliver had a two-run single.

"I got a big hit and this was a big win for us," Oliver said. "When you're playing like we've been playing, it just adds a little pressure to everybody. Everybody wants to be the guy to get the ballclub out of its funk."

Seattle made it 5-0 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Al Martin and Rodriguez's team-leading 32nd homer. The Mariners added two more runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Cameron and Henderson's sacrifice fly to go ahead 7-0.

The Mariners added three insurance runs in the seventh on Guillen's sacrifice fly and Cameron's two-run double. Raul Ibanez homered in the eighth to make it 11-5.

Halama allowed five runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. Biddle gave up seven runs and nine hits in 5 1-3 innings. "I lost control tonight," Biddle said. "I didn't know where I was throwing the ball and made a lot of mistakes up in the zone."

Said Oliver: "If we lose this game, it's a whole different atmosphere in this clubhouse. We're so close. We can't let it slip away. We're in a great position."

Game notes
White Sox 2B Ray Durham was ejected by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo after getting called out on strikes in the ninth inning. ... The Mariners have been in first place since June 29, with a record of 27-27 since then. ... Rodriguez homered for the 24th time at Safeco Field. ... In the seventh, the White Sox batted around for the 28th time this season. ... With the score 7-5, Jose Paniagua ended the seventh by striking out Thomas with the bases loaded. Thomas struck out for the sixth time with the bases loaded this year. With the bases loaded, he also has a homer, double, two singles, two walks and three sacrifice flies for 12 RBIs.
 


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