SEATTLE -- While the Seattle offense has continued to sputter, it's been the pitching that's given the Mariners two consecutive victories and a new-found competitiveness after a road trip of blowouts last week.

It started with a solid outing by Jarrod Washburn during the series finale Sunday in New York, and effective starts from Felix Hernandez and Miguel Batista kept Seattle in the first two games of the Boston series.

Erik Bedard took that torch and turned the heat up a notch with a dominating seven-inning, two-hit, eight-strikeout performance against the formidable Red Sox lineup.

And as a result of starters going deeper into games, Seattle manager John McLaren has been able to both rest some of his bullpen and give flamethrowers Brandon Morrow and J.J. Putz chances to close games out -- as opposed to meaningless innings in games that are out of hand.

"Our starting pitching is starting to tighten up quite a bit," McLaren said prior to Wednesday's game. "And one of our problems has been to get to Morrow and J.J. We haven't had that opportunity really."

Wednesday went according to plan, as Morrow started the eighth and blew a 98 mph heater past Dustin Pedroia to end the inning with a runner on second. Seattle then put in Putz, who went though the meat of the Red Sox order to give Seattle a series win against the defending world champions and some momentum heading into the last six games of the homestand.

With two consistent producers in Morrow and Putz, the Mariners can reasonably expect for this trend to continue -- that is, if they can enter the eighth inning with a lead.

But for now, pitching, which figured to be a strong point for Seattle at the beginning of the year, could be the building block for success as the Mariners try to rebound in the standings and wait for the offense to warm up.

"We can't do it overnight. We can't do it in a week ," McLaren said. "All we're thinking about is just winning series, and walk fast, start jogging, then sprint. There's not an easy fix, all it is is consistent baseball."

With a day off Thursday, the Mariners look to Carlos Silva to shrug off his recent struggles and give Seattle another quality start Friday to begin the Detroit series.

Pitching matchup
SEA: RHP Carlos Silva (3-4, 5.14 ERA)
Silva will try to hop right back on the horse against Detroit after getting roughed up by the Tigers during last week's road trip. He surrendered nine hits and seven earned runs in four innings of work during that May 20 outing and did not strike out a batter. His last start against the Yankees on Saturday went a little better, with the burly right-hander giving up five earned runs (seven overall) in six innings of work. Silva has not been terribly successful against the Tigers during his career -- he has a 5.00 ERA to go along with a 5-4 record.

DET: LHP Nate Robertson (2-5, 5.88 ERA)
After going his first seven outings without a quality start, Robertson has two of them in his past three games, the latest a victory over the Twins during which he pitched 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball. Considering the Tigers scored 19 runs for him, he had plenty of reason to be aggressive against Minnesota hitters, but the low hit and walk totals were both encouraging. Robertson was miserable against the Mariners last year, allowing a combined 10 earned runs on 17 hits over 9 1/3 innings with seven walks and 13 strikeouts. Both outings were at home; Robertson hasn't pitched at Safeco Field since tossing seven scoreless innings on April 22, 2006.

Tidbits
Manny Ramirez has 38 of his 499 career home runs against Seattle (second all-time) to go along with 113 career RBIs (eighth all-time). ... Ichiro Suzuki, now hitting .290 after an 0-for-4 game, has not been at or above .300 since April 9. This is the latest (by date) since Sept. 29, 2005 that his average is below the .300 mark. ... With a double on Wednesday, Wladimir Balentien reached base safely for the 17th consecutive game. ... The Mariners must win their last two games in May to avoid the eighth 20-loss month in club history. ... Wednesday's lineup was the 15th different lineup the Mariners have used over the last 17 games.

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Up next
• Saturday: Mariners (Felix Hernandez, 2-5, 3.60) vs. Tigers (Justin Verlander, 2-7, 5.16), 12:55 p.m. PT
• Sunday: Mariners (Miguel Batista, 3-6, 5.98) vs. Tigers (Kenny Rogers, 4-4, 5.88), 1:10 p.m. PT
• Monday: Mariners (TBD) vs. Angels (Ervin Santana, 7-2, 3.09), 7:10 p.m. PT