Mariners Outlast Buccos in Seven

Seattle (AP) - Jon Lester and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.  A recap of the series:

Game 1
SEA 5, PITT 3 - Felix Hernandez pitched seven strong innings and Pujols and Braun not hit homers.

Game 2
PITT 8, SEA 7 - Neil Walker hit a grand slam in the 2nd to help Pittsburgh take an early lead; but starter Shawn Marcum faltered as Seattle led after three innings 7-6.  The Pirate bullpen pitched scoreless relief the rest of the way as the Pirates scored single runs in the 4th and 6th for the win.

Game 3
SEA 6, PITT 2 - Jon Lester got Seattle back on track by tossing seven brilliant innings of 2-hit shutout ball.  The heart of the Seattle order, Braun/Pujols/Arod, went 7 for 14 with 4 runs scored and 4 ribbies.

Game 4
PITT 5, SEA 4 (10) - Scrappy Pittsburgh again knotted the series by scoring two runs off Francisco Rodriguez in the 9th and then scoring the game-winner off Billy Wagner in the bottom of the 10th.  Freddie Sanchez hit the walk-off homer vs. Wagner to send the Bucco faithful crazy.

Game 5
SEA 2, PITT 1 - In this back-and-forth series, Felix Hernandez outdueled Johan Santana for a tense victory.  Seattle relievers of O'Day and F. Rodriguez combined to pitch three scoreless innings as Seattle held on for the win.

Game 6
PITT 14, SEA 1 - Justin Verlander got roughed up by the Pirate attack as he gave up 7 runs over 3+ innings.  Pirate starter Shawn Marcum pitched a CG as the Pirates banged out 7 homers off the Mariner pitching staff.

Game 7
SEA 8, PITT 6 - Trailing 5-2 going to the bottom of the 7th, Seattle scored 3 runs in the 7th and 2 in the 8th to finally put away 8th seeded Pittsburgh.  Jose Reyes went 3 for 3 and Y. Molina drove in 3 runs.

Seattle will now face Arizona in the semi-finals.....