Baseball: Ichiro gets 3 hits in Mariners' 7th win in a row

Ichiro Suzuki capped an outstanding performance in June with a 3-for-5 outing Saturday as he closed in on the American League lead in batting average after the Seattle Mariners' 8-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Suzuki helped Seattle extend their winning streak to seven games with a bunt single to first, a single to right and another infield single -- a high bouncer to the pitcher -- in his first three at-bats. He fouled out to third and lined out to center in his other at-bats at Safeco Field.

The outfielder, who also had a stolen base, raised his average to .368, second in the American League behind Detroit Tigers outfielder Magglio Ordonez, who went 0-for-4 to lower his average to .370. In June, Suzuki hit .427 (47-for-110).

Catcher Kenji Jojima was hitless in three at-bats with a walk.

At Kauffman Stadium, Tadahito Iguchi hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the top of the 10th inning, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals. With two outs and the bases loaded, Iguchi singled to right off Octavio Dotel to give the White Sox a two-run lead and finished 1-for-4 with a walk.

At Yankee Stadium, Kei Igawa gave up three home runs and took his second loss of the season and Hideki Matsui went 0-for-3 with a walk in the New York Yankees' 7-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Jason Kendall and Shannon Stewart hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning off Igawa (2-2), who also yielded a two-run homer to Dan Johnson in the sixth and was charged with four runs and five hits in 6-1/3 innings. The rookie left-hander struck out four and walked three in his longest outing in the majors.

Elsewhere, Colorado Rockies second baseman Kazuo Matsui went 3-for-5 with a pair of singles and a double in a 5-0 victory over the Houston Astros. Tampa Bay Devil Rays third baseman Akinori Iwamura went hitless in five at-bats in an 8-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Right-hander Masumi Kuwata threw 1-2/3 scoreless innings to close out the game to help the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-2 win over the Washington Nationals.

Texas Rangers reliever Akinori Otsuka pitched a scoreless eighth inning in a 5-4 win over the Boston Red Sox, while Los Angeles Dodgers closer Takashi Saito threw a perfect 10th inning against the San Diego Padres, who won 3-1 in 12 innings.