SEATTLE -- Kyle Seager knows how hard it is to deliver in Major League Baseball on a consistent basis. Like every big leaguer, he's had his ups and downs, with the latest up being a go-ahead two-run homer in Monday's 9-3 victory over the Padres.
Seager's blow helped put a rough weekend sweep to the Twins in the rear-view mirror as the Mariners righted the ship at Safeco Field and kept themselves a half-game back of Texas in the American League West at 29-21.
But in typical Seager fashion, he was more eager to talk about the ensuing three-run blast by teammate Dae-Ho Lee that put the game out of reach in a five-run eighth.
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"He's been pretty impressive," Seager said of the 33-year-old from Korea. "Just to come in with a couple of the big home runs he's hit -- the one today was huge to kind of separate that game a little bit. That was a really big swing. He's been huge. And that's really hard to do in a not-playing-every-day role, to put together the quality of at-bats he has."

Lee, performing in a platoon role at first base, is tied for third among American League rookies with seven home runs despite having just 75 at-bats. Rangers rookie Nomar Mazara hit his ninth homer of the season on Monday in 165 at-bats, Byung Ho Park of the Twins has nine homers in 145 at-bats and Tyler White of the Astros has seven in 136 at-bats.
Lee has done his damage in limited playing time, though manager Scott Servais gave him a rare start Monday against a right-hander, and the 250-pound first baseman delivered a 2-for-4 outing as he hiked his average to .267 with 16 RBIs.
"Dae-Ho Lee does something every game," Servais said. "It's amazing."

Seager has been big for the Mariners as well. He now has nine home runs and 29 RBIs and Monday's shot helped erase the memory of Saturday's game-ending double play on the basepaths that contributed to the Twins' sweep.
"Nobody likes to lose, obviously, but we have a good team," Seager said. "It's a long season. You're going to have games where you hope to win and you don't, that's kind of baseball. Being able to bounce back as quick as possible is what separates teams."

Servais said Seager has the ability to vent and then regroup quickly.
"Kyle has a way where he lets his emotions out, then he goes right back at it," Servais said. "Even after the first at-bat today, I think he was a little frustrated with himself. He let his emotions out, then he got right back after it. He's a good player. He played well defensively today and of course the big home run, which he's capable of doing."

Seager takes losses hard, but he's learned to move on.
"You have to. That's the nature of this game," he said. "If you have 600-700 at-bats, you're going to make a lot of outs. So you kind of have to figure out how to deal with it and try to limit the damage at times."

Then impart it on opposing teams, as he did on Monday when he clubbed a first-pitch changeup from Andrew Cashner to right-center to cap a four-run sixth that gave the Mariners a 4-2 lead.
"Fortunately, that ball had just enough to get over [the wall]," he said. "I hit it good. I felt pretty confident about it. It was a little closer than I was hoping."