Beltre’s homer lifts Mariners to win over Twins in 11

SEATTLE — The way Adrian Beltre has hit lately, if he wasn’t going to clear the wall he might drive a ball through it.

Monday night, he cleared it and a major hurdle for the Seattle Mariners.

Beltre’s two-run homer on the first pitch he saw in the 11th inning gave the Mariners a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins, who’d beaten the Mariners four straight.

Beltre’s double in the ninth inning helped the Mariners tie the score against Twins closer Joe Nathan.

“It seems like he’s been hitting in bad luck all year,” manager Jim Riggleman said. “His numbers don’t indicate how he’s hitting the ball.”

They also don’t indicate how much he has been hurting lately. He injured his left shoulder over the weekend and was limited to DH duty for two games.

“He’s one of the most physically tough players I’ve ever seen play the game,” Riggleman said.

Beltre had lined out hard to left field in the first inning and lined to right in the sixth. In the ninth, he drove a double to right-center and scored on Jeff Clement’s double-play grounder, tying the score 2-2.

Then in the 11th, after Raul Ibanez had worked reliever Jesse Crain for a one-out walk, Beltre crushed the first pitch into the Twins’ bullpen beyond the left-field fence.

“Bellie hit four balls on the button tonight,” Riggleman said.

R.A. Dickey, who lost his place in the Mariners’ starting rotation Monday, won the game with a perfect inning of relief in the top of the 11th.

Miguel Batista pitched a gem in his return to the starting rotation, matching Twins star Francisco Liriano by allowing five hits and a run over six innings.

It was Batista’s best start since he pitched 72/3 shutout innings and beat the Angels on April 20. Since then, his season has been a mishmash of ineffective starts, wobbly relief, aches and pains in what turned into a 4-12 record.

The last time he started against the Twins, they pounded him for seven hits and six runs in three innings on Aug. 4.

Riggleman said Batista probably would start the next time his turn comes up.

“I believe he will, but regardless it’s just good to see him throw good,” Riggleman said. “It’s the first time in a while he’s had his rhythm. He was in command better than we’ve seen him in awhile. When he throws like that, he’s going to help us whether it’s as a starter or reliever.”

Batista allowed one baserunner in the first two innings — Delmon Young on a two-out walk in the second — and his only run in the third. That scored Denard Span walked with two outs, stole second and came home on Alexi Casilla’s single to right.

The Mariners tied the score 1-1 in the fifth when catcher Jamie Burke bounced a leadoff single up the middle and scored after a botched hit-and-run by the Mariners and an even bigger flub by the Twins in defending it.

Burke had broken off first base but Cairo couldn’t get his bat on a low pitch from Liriano. Twins catcher Joe Mauer threw to second baseman Casilla while Burke plowed his way back toward first. Casilla spiked his throw into the dirt near first and the ball bounced out of play, allowing Burke to reach third on the error.

Cairo followed with a double down the right-field line to score Burke.

The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the eighth when reliever Shawn Green walked Mauer with one out, then gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Jason Kubel and Delmon Young.

Eddie Guardado, who’d arrived at Safeco Field just before gametime after being traded to the Twins from the Rangers, got three popups in the eighth inning.

The Mariners tied the score in the ninth off Nathan. Beltre led off with a double to right-center and reached third when shortstop Nick Punto bobbled Jose Lopez’s grounder. Lopez, continuing a Mariners trend this season, failed twice to drop bunts, fouling both pitches from Nathan.

Beltre then scored when pinch hitter Jeff Clement grounded into a double play, tying the score 2-2.

Two innings later, he broke it with his 21st homer this season

Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com