SEATTLE -- Minnesota Manager Tom Kelly believes pitcher Mike Smithson's newly developed fastball can help the Twins shed their tag as the worst pitching squad in the league.
Smithson and George Frazier combined on a five-hitter Friday night to lead Minnesota to its fourth straight victory, an 8-1 triumph over the Seattle Mariners.
Smithson, 1-0, struck out three, walked one and gave up an unearned run in the fourth inning. Frazier worked a perfect ninth. Mike Morgan, 0-1, took the loss.
'Mike (Smithson) was a breaking-ball pitcher last year,' Kelly said. 'But he's got a decent fastball and he's just learning about pitching a little more. He's realizing he can get people out with his fastball.
The right-hander dominated the Mariners by throwing more fastballs than in the past and by keeping the ball at knee level throughout his eight innings of work.
'I spotted the fastball real good,' Smithson said. 'I threw more breaking balls last year and it got me in trouble. I decided this spring do some things different.
'The important thing,' he said, 'is like TK (Kelly) tells me ... just think about one hitter at a time. One pitch at a time. He has us headed in the right direction.'
The Twins have yielded only 10 runs in four games. Last season the Twins had the worst pitching in the American League, finishing with a team ERA of 4.77.
'We're going to score runs,' Kelly said. 'If we can get more pitching like that, we'll be real happy.'
Randy Bush drove in three runs to pace Minnesota's offense.
Bush hit his first homer, a two-run shot, to cap a three-run fifth. Gary Gaetti socked a two-run homer in the eighth and Kirby Puckett added a solo shot, his second homer of the season.
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the third. Steve Lombardozzi singled, moved to second on Tom Nieto's sacrifice and scored on Bush's single.
Puckett's homer leading off the fourth made it 2-0. Seattle scored in the bottom of the fourth when Jim Presley singled home Phil Bradley, who had reached on second baseman Lombardozzi's error and then stole second.
Before Bush homered in the fifth, Lombardozzi doubled home Roy Smalley, who had tripled.
In the Minnesota eighth, Al Newman led off with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Puckett's single before Gaetti homered an out later.
Home-plate umpire Drew Coble left the game in the fifth with a fracture of his left index finger.
