DETROIT _ If only they could play the Tigers more than six or seven times in a season. After a one-night outlier of no offense and a defeat, the Mariners finalized a year's worth of supremacy over the worst team in baseball with a victory in the final game of the season series.
Seattle's offense, which has been largely nonexistent against quality teams with good pitching or even decent teams with mediocre pitching for the better part of the last four weeks, continued to excel against a pitching staff with their worst ERA in all of MLB at 5.20.
The Mariners pounded out a total of 14 hits and rolled to an easy 7-2 victory Thursday in a game where they could have had more runs, going 5 for 15 with runners in scoring position while stranding nine runners on base.
Seattle finished the season with a 6-1 record against the Tigers, who fell to 36-82 and are on pace for just 49 wins this season. The Mariners outscored Detroit 44-18 in the seven games.
Kyle Seager continued to his torrid run at the plate, tallying two hits and driving in three of the seven runs.
Austin Nola and Mallex Smith had three hits each. Of the 10 players that got plate appearances in the game, only Daniel Vogelbach and Keon Broxton were held without hits.
With the win, the Mariners improved to 50-72 on the season, the fifth worst record in MLB. They'll travel north to face the Toronto Blue Jays, who came into Thursday just ahead of them at 51-73.
After struggling to do much against Tigers starter Shane Turnbull in the first two innings, striking out six times, the Mariners broke through in the third inning. Seager gave the Mariners a lead they would never relinquish, smacking two-out double to left field that hopped over the wall and scored two runs. Seager has hits in 19 of his last 20 games.
The Mariners tacked on another run when Nola collected his second of three hits in the game, single to left to score Seager.
The Tigers got two of those runs back in the top of the fourth off Mariners bulk pitcher Tommy Milone. Victor Reyes' hard ground ball to right-center got under Smith's glove and went for a triple to start the inning. He scored immediately on a sac fly from Dawel Lugo. Miguel Cabrera followed with a solo homer to left _ just his ninth homer in an injury-filled season _ to cut the lead to 3-2.
Seattle tacked on two more runs in the seventh. Dylan Moore led off with a solo homer and Omar Narvaez added an RBI single.
Smith add an RBI single in the eighth while Seager drove in his third run of the game with a single in the ninth.
Milone got the win in relief.
