Seattle Mariners' Suzuki spells trouble for Darvish

SEATTLE, Washington (AFP) –

Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki (L) celebrates with teammates John Jaso (C) and Tom Wilhelmsen on May 21. Suzuki knocked in two runs as the Mariners routed the Rangers 6-1 to win their fourth consecutive Major League Baseball game.

Japan’s Ichiro Suzuki knocked in two runs as the Seattle Mariners routed Yu Darvish’s Texas Rangers 6-1 to win their fourth consecutive Major League Baseball game.

Suzuki hit a flare into shallow left-centre field in the third inning to score two runs before moving to third on Josh Hamilton’s throw that wound up in the seats on the third-base line.

It was the shortest start of the season for Darvish who allowed five runs on just four hits. He walked a career-high six batters over four innings.

Darvish has allowed nine earned runs in two starts against the Mariners, while allowing just 10 earned runs in his seven starts against the rest of the league.