Rays 11, M's 3

THE SCENE: It was a mostly overcast but quite comfortable afternoon at Safeco Field, 65 degrees for the first pitch with a crowd of 30,336.

STAR OF THE GAME: Rays starter Edwin Jackson went seven innings, allowing one run on a solo homer by Jose Lopez.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Shawn Riggans' three-run homer in the fifth made it 8-1 and ended the suspense.

THE ARMS: R.A. Dickey made two big mistakes, which were hit for three-run homers by the Rays' No. 8 and 9 hitters. Willy Aybar poked a homer just over the wall in the left field corner in the second to open the scoring, and Riggans nailed the coffin shut in the fifth. Aybar added a second homer, a solo shot, in the seventh against Jake Woods. Miguel Batista was the only one of five Seattle pitchers not to allow a run.

THE BATS: The Mariners didn't force Jackson to work much – he needed just 102 pitches to finish seven innings – and couldn't deliver on the few opportunities they did get, failing even to get Raul Ibanez home after a one-out triple. Two of Seattle's runs were scored far too late, with two out in the ninth inning. Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a pair of singles.

THE GLOVES: The first batter of the game reached when C Jeff Clement blew a high popup just in front of the plate for an error. It was the start of a rough day for Clement, who was charged with three passed balls and went 0-for-4. When Akinori Iwamura stole second in the fourth, 2B Lopez couldn't handle the throw for his 11th error. 1B Bryan LaHair snared a foul ball while standing at the edge of the top dugout step to end the seventh.

THE LEGS: Ichiro stole second in the fifth, his 36th stolen base. Jeremy Reed had his first stolen base of the season, taking second in the first.

– David Andriesen