Bradley strikes early, late for M's

SEATTLE - Milton Bradley homered and then drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning with a single off Justin Verlander to help the Seattle Mariners rally past the Detroit Tigers 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Shawn Kelley (3-0) pitched the eighth before David Aardsma finished for his 10th save in 12 chances. It was just his second save of May, as the Mariners improved to 6-16 this month.

Chone Figgins, hitting .195, doubled off Verlander (5-3) with one out in the eighth. Franklin Gutierrez, who had homered in the sixth to tie the game at 3, walked.

Bradley, who recently missed two weeks and is still getting counseling for emotional issues, then fouled a 98 mph fastball from Verlander straight back before he golfed the fourth change-up of the at-bat into right field.

Figgins slid home past the swipe tag of catcher Alex Avila and flashed a huge smile.

Bradley, playing his sixth game since his return from the restricted list, pounded his hands together twice as the crowd of 20,920 roared. During the ensuing pitching change, the newsmaking slugger ran into the Mariners dugout and went down a bench row of giddy teammates who slapped his back and hands before he returned to first base.

The only other time Bradley has driven in three runs in a game this season was April 13 when his three-run home run beat Oakland. That had been his last homer, until his two-run shot off Verlander gave Seattle a 2-0 lead in Tuesday's first inning.

The Tigers played with a jumbled lineup in their first game of the season without AL RBI leader Miguel Cabrera. He was in Florida with his wife for the birth of their second child. He is expected to rejoin the team on Friday when it returns to Detroit for a weekend series against Oakland.

Magglio Ordonez had a single and walk while filling in for Cabrera at cleanup.

Seattle's Doug Fister allowed two earned runs and nine hits - including a home run by Brandon Inge that gave the Tigers a brief, 3-2 lead in the sixth - in his seven innings. Fister's AL-leading ERA ticked up to 2.03.

Seattle's power-poor lineup, which has scored two runs in 21 innings coming in, revived with Bradley and Gutierrez.

Gutierrez took a 96 mph fastball out to the opposite field to tie the game at 3 in the sixth. It was just the sixth RBI in 16 games for Seattle's replacement No. 3 hitter.

Bradley homered off another fastball from Verlander, after Gutierrez had singled in the first. In the dugout, injured shortstop Jack Wilson jubilantly wrapped his arms around the smiling Bradley and announced "He's back!"

Verlander topped out at 98 mph late while allowing five earned runs, his most since April 11, in eight innings. He allowed two home runs in a game for the first time this season. He had entered with the AL's lowest ERA in May at 1.50.

NOTES: Impressive rookie leadoff man Austin Jackson returned to the lineup after missing one game and tied the game at 2 with a double for Detroit in the second. He had gone to a hospital Saturday after being hit in the left eye by a pitch from the Dodgers' Ramon Troncoso.