M's Liddi first Italian to hit grand slam in half-century

By TIM BOOTH

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 6:51 p.m. ET May 23, 2012

SEATTLE (AP) - Considering his rarified place in baseball history, it's no wonder Alex Liddi could not stop grinning.

He also wouldn't mind getting use to the occasional curtain call.

"Obviously big-time guys do it and when you have to do it a good thing," Liddi said.

Liddi hit the first major league grand slam by an Italian-born player in half-century, Kevin Millwood threw six shutout innings and the Seattle Mariners took two of three from AL West-leading Texas with a 5-3 win over the Rangers on Wednesday.

Liddi made Texas manager Ron Washington pay for the decision to pitch around Dustin Ackley with one out in the fifth inning. Ackley was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Liddi lined the first pitch from Scott Feldman (0-2) just over the yellow line on top of the left-field wall for his third homer this season.

The opportunities for Liddi have been few. Wednesday was his 20th start in 46 games. He came up as a third baseman, but with the emergence of Kyle Seager as the Mariners everyday third baseman for now, Liddi has learned how to play first base and made his second start of the season on Wednesday in left field.

Almost on cue, his day started rough when he lost a fly ball against a cloudy, but bright sky and committed a two-base error in the second inning. But that became an afterthought thanks to his slam in the fifth.

"He's a guy that's capable of doing some damage up there. He works as hard as anybody we have. That's the reason he's able to maintain the way he does when he doesn't play," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "He's still a young hitter, but he's learned how to hit."

Millwood (3-4) was brilliant for a third consecutive start. Coming off a two-hitter at Colorado, Millwood gave up three hits in six innings. Only a high pitch count ended his day early.

Millwood silenced yet another former team, and holding the top offense in baseball to just three hits might have been more impressive than his complete game against the Rockies. Millwood has gone 17 straight innings without allowing a run. Dating back to a three-run second inning against Detroit on May 8, Millwood has given up just one run in his last 25 innings. The 17 straight scoreless innings is the second-longest streak of his career.

"The biggest thing was just confidence has been building for the last couple of weeks so I felt like when I got out there it just felt like I was going to have a good game and throw the ball well," Millwood said. "When I missed guys made good plays or they just fouled it off. Confidence goes a long ways in this game."

Texas made it interesting breaking up the shutout with Josh Hamilton's RBI double and Adrian Beltre's two-run homer in the eighth off reliever Tom Wilhelmsen. But Brandon League rebounded from some shaky recent outings and shut down the Rangers in the ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances.

Liddi was the lone hitting star for Seattle, which won with only four hits. He doubled in the first, but was caught too far off the bag when Ichiro Suzuki lined out and was doubled up to end the inning. Feldman then walked the bases loaded to begin the third, and Michael Saunders' fly ball to center was deep enough to score Kyle Seager.

Saunders opened the fifth with a walk and Mike Carp followed with a bloop single that fell into shallow left and just out of the reach of shortstop Elvis Andrus. Saunders and Carp advanced 90 feet when Ian Kinsler failed to catch Feldman's pickoff attempt at second base, but held as Brendan Ryan grounded out to shortstop with the infield playing in.

Ackley was walked intentionally to bring up Liddi. Given a pitch at the top of the strike zone to start the at-bat, Liddi turned on the pitch, lining it down the left-field line and barely clearing the hand-operated scoreboard.

"He made one bad pitch to Liddi. Other than that I thought he made a ton of good pitches," Washington said of Feldman. "It was unfortunate the one bad pitch he made they got four runs on. He tried to throw a sinker and it didn't sink."

Liddi's slam was just the second in major league history by an Italian born player. Reno Bertoia hit a grand slam on May 7, 1958, for Detroit against Washington.

"As a hitter it's always a good challenge, because they just walked the guys in front of you," Liddi said. "I'm always pumped when that happens."

NOTES: Feldman tied his career high with five walks in 4 1-3 innings. He was starting in place of Neftali Feliz, who went on the disabled list Monday. ... Liddi's grand slam was the second this season for Seattle. Saunders hit a grand slam earlier this month in Toronto. ... The Rangers had won five straight road series vs. AL West foes. ... Millwood was 0-2 with a 10.05 ERA in three starts at Safeco Field this season.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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M's Liddi first Italian to hit grand slam in half-century

SEATTLE (AP) - Alex Liddi hit the first major league grand slam by an Italian-born player in half-century, Kevin Millwood threw six shutout innings and the Seattle Mariners took two of three from division-leading Texas with a 5-3 win over the Rangers on Wednesday.

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