SEATTLE (AP) - Jose Lopez jumped on the first pitch from San Diego reliever Heath Bell in the bottom of the eighth, lining a two-out, two-run double into the right-field corner, and the Seattle Mariners rallied for a 3-2 win over the Padres on Sunday afternoon.
Struggling to find any offense against San Diego starter Shawn Estes, the Mariners took advantage of a shaky effort from the Padres bullpen for the second straight day and won consecutive games for the first time since April 20 and 22.
On Saturday night, it was Adrian Beltre hitting a tiebreaking two-run homer off Cla Meredith in Seattle's 4-2 victory. Hours later, it was Bell (0-3).
With one out in the eighth, pinch hitter Jose Vidro and Yuniesky Betancourt singled, and Ichiro Suzuki walked to load the bases. Bell seemed to regroup, striking out Beltre.
Before Mariners' fans could finish groaning about Beltre's strikeout, Lopez went opposite field, scoring pinch runner Miguel Cairo and Betancourt.
Lopez drove in all three Seattle runs, scoring Suzuki on an infield groundout in the first. It was Seattle's first win this season when trailing after seven innings.
Arthur Rhodes (2-0) got the final out of the eighth to get the victory, and J.J. Putz pitched the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances.
Seattle's rally spoiled the feel-good story of Estes, who made just his second start in more than two years, and looked much like he did in his prime.
Estes gave up an infield single to Suzuki leading off the bottom of the first, then retired the next 13 batters before Richie Sexson's single with one out in the fifth. Estes slapped his glove after Sexson's single, realizing he'd missed on his location.
Estes threw just 89 pitches in 6 1-3 innings, leaving after walking Raul Ibanez with one out in the seventh. He struck out two and walked two. Even with more than half of Estes' pitches being balls (45), Seattle managed just four baserunners against the lefty.
The lack of offense put Seattle's young right-hander Felix Hernandez in a bind, but Hernandez kept Seattle close and made only one mistake to Adrian Gonzalez, who hit a long two-run homer in the fourth. Seattle's rally kept Hernandez from dropping his fifth straight decision. Hernandez allowed seven hits in six innings and struck out five, getting help from a pair of line-out double plays.
For the second consecutive night, San Diego got to the Mariners' starter in the fourth.
Brian Giles doubled into the left-field corner to open the inning, his eighth hit in the three-game series. Gonzalez then made sure he didn't miss on Hernandez's mistake, ripping the fastball 421 feet into the second deck of the right-field stands.
It was Gonzalez's second consecutive game with a homer, capitalizing on Erik Bedard's mistake on Saturday night and hitting an opposite-field two-run homer to account for all the Padres' runs in their 4-2 loss.
Giles finished 9-for-12 in the series after his eighth-inning single.
Seattle's first run came thanks to Suzuki's feet. After reaching on his infield single, Suzuki stole second to become Seattle's all-time stolen base leader with 291, passing Julio Cruz. On the next pitch, Suzuki stole third, and scored on Lopez's groundout.
Notes:@ Padres C Michael Barrett will begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Portland on Monday and later in the week will join Single-A Lake Elsinore. Barrett's been on the DL since April 8 with a sprained ligament in his right elbow. ... It was Seattle's first win this season when scoring fewer than four runs.