Rays won over Mariners and other news

In the ninth inning, Tampa Bay Rays catcher Jose Molina broke for 2nd base and, despite a careening slide, was safe. It was his 2nd steal of the year and 14th in 13 top seasons.

When it’s going right, it’s going right.

B.J. Upton hit a 2-run homer and Alex Cobb pitched 7 powerful innings to help the Rays to their season-high 7th consecutive win, 4-1 over the Mariners on Monday night.

The Tampa Bay Rays are rolling. They have grabbed control over the wild-card race lead by winning 10 of their last 12. They again used a productive mixture Monday: Some pop, a top notch start and Joel Peralta mixing with Fernando Rodney to seal the win.

Cobb (7-8) allowed a run and 4 hits. He struck out 5 and walked two in his 4th consecutive quality start and 3rd consecutive win. His ERA is 1.93 over his last 4 outings. He threw first-pitch strikes to the 1st 20 hitters.

Upton provided the pop with his 13th homer of the season, a 2-run shot to the upper deck in left off Seattle starter Blake Beavan that gave Tampa Bay a 3-0 lead. Upton’s homer was followed by a single from Matt Joyce and a double to center by Ben Zobrist that made it 4-0. Sportsbook Online

Beavan (7-7) pitched 6 innings, permitting 8 hits and four earned runs with 4 strikeouts. He allowed all 4 runs on 5 hits in the 3rd inning, and just three hits in 5 other scoreless innings.

Peralta usurped for Cobb after the 7th. It was the 4th successive outing of 7 innings for Cobb, which was a formula Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon didn’t want to mess with.

Rodney followed Peralta to record his major league-leading and career-high tying 37th save in 38 tries by pitching a scoreless ninth. He extended his club record to 22 consecutive saves.

Sam Fuld singled and stole 2nd before Desmond Jennings’ single drove him in for Tampa Bay’s 1st run.

Beavan allowed 5 consecutive hits during his 43-pitch 3rd inning. He struck out Carlos Pena looking to finish it. After 3 innings, Beavan had recorded 9 outs and allowed 7 hits.

Cobb retired the first 8 Mariners before Brendan Ryan lined a single up the middle in the 3rd. Cobb quickly dumped Dustin Ackley with a grounder to 2nd to close the inning.

Eric Thames’ single thru the right side in the 5th scored Trayvon Robinson, who had led off with a triple, to make it 4-1. But Thames was picked off 1st base by Molina after a pitch in the dust rebounded straight up to him and Thames had taken a few steps towards 2nd.

Chone Figgins walked, and then Ryan and Ackley grounded out to finish the inning.

Hard-throwing Mariners rookie reliever Carter Capps made his home debut in the 7th inning. Capps walked 3 and struck out one.

Zobrist had 3 hits and Maddon said he’ll continue to play shortstop, where he started Monday.