Washburn pitches 7 scoreless innings, leading Mariners to 2-1 win over Tigers

Washburn leads Mariners to 2-1 win

DETROIT — Jarrod Washburn pitched seven scoreless innings, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1 on Thursday.

Washburn (8-6) allowed two hits and two walks as Seattle won for the eighth time in 10 games. He is 5-1 with a 1.81 ERA in his last seven starts.

Three relievers finished, with David Aardsma pitching a perfect ninth for his 24th save in 26 tries.

Rookie starter Luke French (1-1) took the loss, the first of his career. He allowed two runs on eight hits in 5 1-3 innings and struck out six without walking a batter.

Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the first, scoring the only run of the first five innings. Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single, took second on third baseman Brandon Inge’s throwing error, and scored on Mike Sweeney’s RBI double.

The Mariners made it 2-0 in the sixth. Jose Lopez started the inning with a double, moved to third on Sweeney’s single and scored when Wladimir Balentien grounded into a force at second.

Curtis Granderson pulled the Tigers within 2-1 with a two-out RBI triple off Mark Lowe in the eighth, but Sean White came in to retire Placido Polanco.

NOTES: The first pitch was delayed by 26 minutes by rain. … Washburn got his first nine outs via flyballs before striking out Marcus Thames to start the fourth. … The Tigers were booed loudly by the crowd after going out in order in the seventh. At that point, they had scored two runs in their last 22 innings.