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SEATTLE -- Mariners closer Fernando Rodney usually gets the job done. He never makes it look easy, though. Rodney allowed the first two batters he faced to reach base in the ninth inning as Seattle clung to a one-run lead over the Detroit Tigers. Rodney walked Alex Avila to lead off the inning and Don Kelly reached on a broken bat flyball to left field. But Rodney struck out Andrew Romine and Rajai Davis before getting Ian Kinsler to ground out to the shortstop to for a 3-2 win over the Tigers Saturday night, wrapping up his 14th save in 16 chances. "I wasnt nervous. I wasnt watching," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon joked. Willie Bloomquist delivered a pair of two-out RBI singles off Detroit starter Drew Smyly to help lift the Mariners. Chris Young allowed two runs and three hits over six innings to improve to 5-2, but Seattle had to hold their breath with Rodney in the ninth. After Avila and Kelly reached in the ninth, manager Lloyd McClendon knew Romine would likely be bunting. He marched to the mound to meet with Rodney and stressed the importance of getting any out they could against Romine. "A lot of times we take that for granted, but thats real important," McClendon said. "You know theyre bunting. Lets not try to do anything spectacular. Lets just make sure we get an out. That was my message." Romine failed to get the bunt down and ultimately struck out on a changeup. Rodney and Davis then had a 10-pitch battle before Rodney finally got a swinging strikeout over a 95 mph fastball on the inside corner. "(Davis) was looking for something soft he can drive to right field," Rodney said. "I see that and I continue to mix it up. The last pitch I said Im going to die with my best pitch in my fastball." A groundball to short by Kinsler allowed Rodney to get out of the jam as the Mariners held on for the win. Stefen Romero and John Buck each singled to put runners on the corners with one out against Smyly (2-4) in the second inning. Cole Gillespie hit a dribbler off the end of the bat just past the mound to score Romero and give the Mariners a 1-0 lead. Bloomquist added another run with a two-out RBI single that scored Buck from second. Smyly allowed seven hits and threw 105 pitches in just four innings of work before being ousted by the Mariners. "He had a little trouble with his command again," Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. "He had trouble getting ahead and when he did get ahead, it seemed like they would work their way back into 3-2 counts." Young, meanwhile, was in cruise control for the Mariners. He retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced through the first three innings. Miguel Cabrera hit a solo homer to left field with one out in the fourth inning to get the Tigers on the board. It was Cabreras second home run in two games this series against Seattle and his 10th home run of the season. Seattle answered in the bottom half. Gillespie singled and stole second base to move into scoring position. Bloomquist came through again with two outs, hitting a single to left to score Gillespie and give Seattle a 3-1 cushion. Austin Jackson doubled to lead off the seventh inning and chase Young. Jackson scored on a wild pitch by Dominic Leone to pull back with a run. A walk to Kelly and single from Davis put a pair of runners on but Gillespie ran down a line drive from Kinsler at the wall to preserve Seattles lead. NOTES: Seattle 2B Robinson Cano missed his third straight game with a sore hand. McClendon said that Cano is improving but is still day to day. ... Seattle SS Nick Franklin is 0 for 14 with nine strikeouts over his last four games. His average for the season fell to .128. ... Young improved to 6-0 with a 2.84 ERA in nine career starts at Safeco Field. He is 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA in five starts in Seattle this season. He has limited opponents to a .202 batting average against in 10 starts. ... Tigers 2B Kinsler went 0 for 5 on the night and left seven runners stranded on base, with three in scoring position. ... RHP Max Scherzer (6-1, 3.00 ERA) takes to the mound to face LHP Roenis Elias (3-4, 4.02 ERA) in the finale of the three-game series on Sunday. NMD For Sale . Boston is making its first appearance in the ALCS since 2008. For Detroit, its a third straight trip to the ALCS and its fourth in eight years. NMD Cheap https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/. Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second. NMD Outlet . Cruz set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and Baltimore scored eight times in the eighth to pull away for a 12-3 victory in Game 1. The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer. NMD Fake . -- Top-seed Shahar Peer and Canadian Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the second round of the inaugural WTA Citi Open.NEW ORLEANS -- Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points, Monta Ellis added 23 and the Dallas Mavericks sent the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans to their fourth straight loss, 107-90 on Friday night. Vince Carter added 14 points and Jae Crowder 12 for Dallas, which never trailed. The Mavericks led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter before cruising against a Pelicans squad minus starting point guard Jrue Holiday and leading scorer Ryan Anderson. Holiday missed his first game with a stress fracture in his right shin. Anderson went down last week with a herniated disk. Eric Gordon scored 27 points for New Orleans, while Anthony Davis added 21 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots. That wasnt nearly enough to keep pace with the Mavs, who hit 14 of 28 3-point shots and shot 52.6 per cent (41 of 78) overall. Dallas broke open the game with a 27-6 run that spanned from late in the second quarter until Brandan Wrights layup made it 76-53 with 3:35 to go in the third quarter. Nowitzki scored nine of his points during the run, including one of his four 3-pointers. Brian Roberts started in place of Holiday, but was limited by early foul trouble and finished with nine points. Austin Rivers had 12 points. But the Pelicans turned the ball over 18 times, setting up 25 Dallas points. Meanwhile, Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans sat out the second half with a sore left ankle after missing his only two shots and turning overr the ball twice in the first half.dddddddddddd The Pelicans struggled to keep pace with Dallas from the outset, and the Mavs led by as many as 12 in the second quarter when Samuel Dalemberts dunk made it 40-28. It might have been worse if not for Gordons 14 points in the first quarter, and 19 in the opening half. Gordons 3 and driving floater on successive possessions capped a 10-0 run that pulled New Orleans to 40-38. The Pelicans were still as close as 49-47 with 3:16 left in the period, but with Nowitzki and Dalembert returning to finish the quarter, Dallas pulled away again. Nowitzki had 14 of his points in the opening half, and his 18-foot jumper ignited a 13-2 run to close second quarter. During the spurt, Ellis twice converted layups set up by New Orleans turnovers, giving Dallas 19 points off of 11 first-half turnovers. Jose Calderon and Ellis both added 3s as Dallas took a 62-49 lead into halftime. NOTES: The teams play each other again Saturday night in Dallas. ... The Mavs 62 points at halftime were the most allowed in a first half by New Orleans this season. ... In the past 10 days, New Orleans has allowed 60-point first halves three times, giving up 61 to Minnesota on Jan. 1 and 61 to Washington on Jan. 8. ... Since Dec. 28, Dallas has eclipsed 60 first-half points five times in its last eight games, with a high of 70 first-half points against the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 3. ' ' '