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0-1-2. Little and Dustin Byfuglien sa
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SEATTLE -- With two strikes on him and two outs in the ninth inning of a tie game, Leonys Martin kept his plan simple. Juuso Riikola Jersey . "Try to see the ball and put the ball in play," he said. Martin slapped a single just past the glove of a diving Kyle Seager at third base, scoring Luis Sardinas from second with the go-ahead run and the Rangers held on for a 4-3 win over Seattle on Saturday night, extending the Mariners losing streak to five games. Luis Sardinas singled off Fernando Rodney (1-3) with one out in the ninth and moved to second on a groundout. Martin, who reached base three times as manager Ron Washingtons latest test in the leadoff spot, followed with the game-winning hit, which scored Sardinas without a play at the plate. "If you put the ball in play, good things can happen, and it did for us tonight," Washington said. "They dont quit. They play nine innings and they continue to play baseball no matter what happens out there. No matter what happens out there, they continue to play baseball." Despite allowing an inherited runner to score after allowing a bases-loaded RBI single to Robinson Cano in the seventh, Neal Cotts (2-3) limited the damage and earned the win with 1 2-3 innings of four-strikeout relief. Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 16 chances. The late run spoiled a win for Texas starter Joe Saunders, who was in line for his first victory of the season in his fourth start after coming off the disabled list. Saunders allowed two runs in six innings. "For me, its about getting deeper into games," Saunders said. "I felt like I had good stuff tonight, couldve been better. So its still, in my mind, a little bit of a work in progress. But made some good strides tonight." The Rangers had to rally early in the game after falling behind 1-0 in the fifth. Shin-Soo Choo singled off reliever Danny Farquhar to open the sixth and scored when Adrian Beltre followed with a double into the left-field corner, tying the game. After a pair of strikeouts, Robinson Chirinos put Texas ahead with a two-run home run to left field. Farquhar came on for Erasmo Ramirez, who had skirted danger in five scoreless innings. Ramirez allowed just three hits, but struggled with his command and walked four. The right-hander allowed seven baserunners and threw 89 pitches. The Mariners took the lead in the fifth when Stefen Romero hit a sacrifice fly to left to score John Buck from third. Buck led off the frame with a single and moved to third when Seager followed with a base hit. The run snapped a 13-inning scoreless streak for the Mariners. Seattle added a run in the sixth when Buck scored Cano from second with a single. The call at the plate was confirmed after a review. The Mariners were not able to capitalize on opportunities, though, and multiple runners stranded in the three separate innings. "Weve lost some tough games here at home," Willie Bloomquist said. "Were playing hard, just not coming up with that big hit when we need it." NOTES: Sundays series finale will feature Mariners RHP Hisashi Iwakuma and Rangers RHP Nick Martinez. ... The umpires reviewed four calls: two in the first, one in the sixth and one in the seventh. Leonys Martin was originally called safe in an attempt to steal second, but it was overturned. A 2-2 count to Adrian Beltre was also reviewed, and upheld. A ruling that Robinson Cano was safe at home in the sixth was confirmed. Elvis Andrus was originally called out at first in the seventh after being involved in a rundown, but the call was reversed. ... Seattles Jesus Montero, a former top prospect, made his first appearance since being suspended 50 games for his connection to the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug investigation last year. Montero, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday, collected a single in three at-bats as the designated hitter. Pittsburgh Penguins Pro Shop .Y. -- The "for sale" sign is up at the Buffalo Bills with the hiring of financial and legal advisers who may begin talking with prospective buyers within the next month. Ron Schock Jersey . Vonn punctuated her near-perfect season in perfect fashion Friday, earning her fourth overall World Cup title with a dominating giant slalom victory.Minnesota Wild 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (Shootout) - At 15-5-4 and 12-2-1 in their last 15 games, the Minnesota Wild continue to be one of the best teams in the NHL. The Winnipeg Jets have now lost three one-goal games to the Wild; two in Minnesota and Saturdays game at MTS Centre. That, plus the way they lost Saturdays game overshadowed a pretty good effort by the Jets. They had 39 shots on goal; the most the Wild have surrendered this season. Josh Harding was supposed to start but was injured in warm-up, so Niklas Backstrom - just off injury - took to the nets and was terrific. As was Ondrej Pavelec in the Jets net. Backstrom was first to keep his team in the game, as the Jets outshot the Wild 14-4 in the first. In the second, it was Pavelec who kept the game scoreless as the Wild outshot the Jets 17-11, dominating the early part of the period. The games first goal was scored by Michael Frolik; his sixth of the season and the ninth time this season the Jets scored first. Frolik banged home a loose puck after Backstrom couldnt handle a shot from Matt Halischuk. The line of Mark Scheifele, Frolik and Halischuk was probably the Jets best line. Minnesota tied the game in the third with Nino Niederreiter scoring his fifth. He was moved onto the top line with Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu to start the third and jammed home a rebound after Pavelec stopped the initial shot from Marco Scandella. But 2:14 later, the Jets regained the lead with Halischuks second of the year; Frolik and Scheifele with the assists. At 14:02, Scandella went off for hooking and the Jets power play that has been very good over the past four games (38.5 per cent) had the opportunity to put the game away. A tough play on a rolling puck along the boards in the Wild zone lead to a three-on-two for the Wild and a great feed by Koivu to Parise tiied the game. Bob Errey Jersey. It was Parises 17th point in the last 15 games and his first - and the Wilds first - shorthanded goal of the year. The Jets have now given up four. The Jets outshot the Wild 4-1 in overtime, with Grant Clitsome having a great chance to end it as he was one-on-one against Backstrom, but another great save by Backstrom sent the game to a shootout. A shootout that went like this - Blake Wheeler no, Parise no, Andrew Ladd no, Koivu yes, Bryan Little yes, Jason Pomminville no, Devin Setoguchi no, Charlie Coyle yes. It was Coyles first career shootout goal. The Jets are now 5-3 in shootouts. The Jets end the three-game homestand at 0-1-2. Little and Dustin Byfuglien saw their point streaks come to an end; Little at three games (1-4-5) , Byfuglien at four games (5-2-7). Byfuglien also had a four-game goal streak come to an end. Olli Jokinen led the Jets with seven shots on goal; a season high. He also won 14 of 21 face-offs. James Wright was best in the face-off category at 73 per cent winning eight of 11. Captain Ladd felt "the effort was good, but we needed a better effort on the power play. Pav made some huge saves. But we did a lot of good things." Coach Claude Noel agreed. "We had good efforts from a lot of players. Its a fine line between winning and losing for us. For the most part we played pretty well. A lot of descent players in the game. Theyve been the best team in the NHL in November and we have been in position twice to win. Our team worked hard. Gave it our all." Jets now leave on a six-game Eastern Conference road trip that starts in New Jersey on Monday, then the Islanders on Wednesday, followed by Philadelphia Friday morning. All games are on TSN Jets and TSN 1290. The following week, its the New York Rangers, Florida and Tampa. ' ' '