SEATTLE (AP) - An afternoon of tremendous pitching by both sides came to this: The Seattle Mariners tried using backup catcher Jamie Burke on the mound in a 1-1 game. Detroit's scuffling offense gladly took advantage.
Marcus Thames' sacrifice fly scored pinch runner Michael Hollimon in the top of the 15th and the Tigers snapped a two-game skid with a 2-1 win over the Mariners on a long Sunday afternoon.
After the two pitching staffs combined to keep both offenses off the scoreboard from the fifth inning on, the game took a comical turn. The Mariners went beyond their second or third option in using Burke, who had been in the game behind the plate since the ninth.
Seattle manager Jim Riggleman had his hands tied. Pitcher Arthur Rhodes woke up with a sore arm and couldn't get loose. Brandon Morrow had pitched four of the previous five days and Riggleman wanted to give him a day off. Tuesday's scheduled starter, Carlos Silva, had thrown on the side earlier Sunday. Even Saturday's starter, R.A. Dickey, volunteered to throw, but had tossed more than 100 pitches in his start.
Instead, Riggleman went with Burke, who became the third position player in Mariners' history to take the mound.
His first pitch was an 82 mph fastball and he reached 86 on the stadium radar gun. But Miguel Cabrera took advantage of the situation, doubling to center field to lead off the 15th. He was lifted for Hollimon, who moved to third when Burke tried to throw a curve ball that ended up in the backstop netting.
Thames then lifted a flyball to deep left that easily scored Hollimon with the winning run. Burke rebounded to get a groundout from Ivan Rodriguez and a fly out from Edgar Renteria, and headed to the dugout to a standing ovation from the crowd that stuck around.
Aquilino Lopez (3-1) survived an error from left fielder Clete Thomas in the 14th to get the win and Todd Jones recorded the final three outs for his 16th save in 17 chances.
The Tigers were held to five total runs in the final three games of the four-game series, four of them coming on solo homers. Detroit came into Seattle one of the hottest teams in the league, and had to outlast the Mariners to split the series.
Burke (0-1) was the seventh pitcher for Seattle, who combined to give up just eight hits - two after the seventh inning. He had previously made four appearances as a pitcher in the minor leagues, the last on May 1, 2002. He was the first Mariners' position player to pitch since John Mabry in 2000 against Tampa Bay.
Ryan Raburn hit his fourth homer of the season in the fifth inning to account for all the Tigers' offense before the 15th. Seattle's lone run came on Yuniesky Betancourt's RBI double in the fourth that scored Willie Bloomquist from first.
Detroit starter Nate Robertson was outstanding, pitching nine innings, giving up four hits and one earned run.
Seattle's Ryan Rowland-Smith made his second career start and pitched five solid innings, before turning over to the Mariners bullpen. His only mistake was a high fastball to Raburn that the outfielder belted off a railing on the second deck of the left-field stands.
Notes:@ It was the longest game of the season, by innings, for both teams. The previous long for both was 12 innings. ... Suzuki was named to his eighth straight All-Star team on Sunday and was the only Seattle representative. Detroit's lone representative will be 3B Carlos Guillen, who was selected as a reserve. It will be the third All-Star appearance for Guillen. ... Detroit sent utility man Brandon Inge out on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Toledo on Sunday. Inge went on the disabled list June 23 with a pulled oblique. Manager Jim Leyland hopes to get Inge back after the All-Star break.