Beltre's Homer Lifts Mariners Past Yanks

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Seattle Mariners got a big break and made Mariano Rivera look vulnerable again. <br/><br/>Adrian Beltre hit a tiebreaking homer off Rivera in the ninth inning and Seattle took advantage

Tuesday, May 8th 2007, 7:49 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Seattle Mariners got a big break and made Mariano Rivera look vulnerable again.

Adrian Beltre hit a tiebreaking homer off Rivera in the ninth inning and Seattle took advantage of a blown call at second base to beat the New York Yankees 3-2 Monday night.

``We'll take it,'' Willie Bloomquist said. ``It's just a good thing there's no instant replay in baseball.''

A late rally gave the Mariners a four-game split at Yankee Stadium and cost Matt DeSalvo a win in his impressive major league debut.

With the score tied at 2, Rivera (1-3) retired his first two batters in the ninth before Beltre, dropped from second to seventh in the batting order, drove a high pitch over the left-center fence for his fifth homer.

It was the second homer this season off the 37-year-old Rivera, who gave up three all of last year. Lacking regular work, he has an unsightly 8.44 ERA after 12 appearances.

``I felt good. I was throwing strikes. One missed pitch and it was a home run,'' Rivera said.

In the only other AL game Monday, Cleveland beat Baltimore 10-1.

One night after Roger Clemens' grand announcement that he'll pitch in pinstripes this season, New York got seven innings of three-hit ball from DeSalvo. He walked three and left with a 2-1 lead before a missed call by second base umpire Gerry Davis helped Seattle tie the score.

Jose Vidro broke his bat on an infield single with two outs in the eighth against Kyle Farnsworth. Bloomquist ran for Vidro and stole second, though replays showed he was clearly out _ by at least a foot _ on a strong throw by catcher Jorge Posada to second baseman Robinson Cano.

Yankees manager Joe Torre wasn't around to argue _ he was serving a one-game suspension for his role in a skirmish between the teams Sunday. Bench coach Don Mattingly, running the team in Torre's absence, never budged from the dugout.

``You can't see it. The guys out there didn't really argue. I didn't have to go out there to protect anybody,'' Mattingly explained, sitting in Torre's office chair.

Given another chance, the Mariners capitalized. Kenji Johjima, moved from seventh in the lineup to the No. 3 spot, looped a soft single to right that drove in Bloomquist.

``It's the only break we got in the four games. We took advantage of it,'' manager Mike Hargrove said.

The boos from the crowd of 47,424 were probably directed more at Davis than Farnsworth. After seeing the replay, a gracious Davis admitted he missed the call _ badly.

``The throw was to the first-base side and pulled Robinson toward me a little bit, so I couldn't see the runner's hands. Normally when the runner is tagged on his backside, his hands are at the bag. That obviously wasn't the case tonight,'' Davis said.

George Sherrill (1-0) fanned two in a hitless eighth for the win, and J.J. Putz got three outs for his seventh save in seven chances. With a runner at second, he struck out Bobby Abreu looking to end it.

``It was a big win for us,'' Hargrove said. ``We faced one of the best closers in baseball and scored a run off him, and that makes it even more special.''

Light-hitting Doug Mientkiewicz gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a two-out RBI double in the fifth off starter Miguel Batista.

By putting DeSalvo on the mound, the injury-ravaged Yankees became the first team in major league history to use 10 starting pitchers in its first 30 games. The 26-year-old right-hander was 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season.

New York also became the first team to start six rookie pitchers in its first 30 games since the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

DeSalvo, who did not strike out a batter, is slated to pitch again Saturday in Seattle.

``When I started, I just wanted to get out of the first inning. Then I just wanted to get out of the second,'' he said. ``It's nothing fancy. I didn't want to strike out anybody or anything. It was a step-by-step thing.''

DeSalvo gave up a double to his first hitter, Ichiro Suzuki, who scored on Raul Ibanez's two-out single. New York tied it in the bottom of the first on Abreu's RBI grounder.

Indians 10, Orioles 1

At Baltimore, Travis Hafner hit a grand slam, Fausto Carmona allowed one unearned run in seven innings, and Cleveland earned a four-game split.

Grady Sizemore doubled home the tiebreaking run in a four-run seventh, Hafner hit his ninth career slam in the eighth off Jamie Walker and Jhonny Peralta added a solo shot in the ninth.

Carmona (3-1), back from the minors following an injury to Jake Westbrook, allowed seven hits.