M's pound slumping Rockies

| May 20, 2012 9:00 PM

DENVER (AP) - Jason Vargas did a pretty good imitation of Kevin Millwood.

Seattle's savvy lefty threw seven strong innings, Kyle Seager homered and drove in three runs, and the Mariners beat the free-falling Colorado Rockies 10-3 on Saturday.

Vargas (5-3) said he picked up some tips watching and listening to Millwood, who threw a two-hitter at Coors Field on Friday night for his first shutout in nine years.

"You see him go out there and pound the zone with fastballs and making them commit early and you can go to your secondary pitches when you need it," Vargas said. "... So, I was just going to go out and try to pound the zone like Millwood did last night."

Before the Mariners got to Denver for this interleague series, Vargas also sought advice from injured catcher Miguel Olivo, who played in Colorado in 2010 and gave him similar words of wisdom.

"I don't have a put-away breaking ball, so for me to try to go to that offspeed stuff here is going to be a little bit more different than in other parks," said Vargas, who had been 0-2 with an 18.00 ERA at Denver's downtown ballpark.

This time, he allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings in sending the Rockies to their 12th loss in 15 games.

"I think he obviously caught us at a good time," said Michael Cuddyer, who is mired in an 0-for-13 slump. "He's a good pitcher, don't get me wrong, but we're not swinging the bats very well."

Indeed, the Rockies are 7 for 59 for an abysmal batting average of .119 in the first two games of this three-game series.

Vargas took a two-hitter into the seventh, when he allowed three runs, two on Wilin Rosario's sixth homer.

"It's one of those things where you got to just come in here and forget about where you're at, just go and pound the strike zone," Vargas said. "Don't let them wait for you to make mistakes."

That's what Rockies rookie left-hander Christian Friedrich (1-1) tried to do, too. But he wasn't nearly as precise with his low fastball, so he couldn't go to his above-average breaking pitches as often as he wanted.