Seager continues tear with pair of homers

NEW YORK -- Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager went into the All-Star break on a tear. He came out of it even hotter, scorching a pair of home runs in Friday's 4-3 loss to the Yankees. And that's a good sign for a Seattle club looking for offensive life wherever it can find it.

Seager has hiked his batting average 19 points over the past seven games to .271 after a 2-for-4 output with all three of Seattle's RBIs. He's hitting .481 during his seven-game hitting streak and .347 in 13 July games while moving into second on the club with his 14 home runs and 42 RBIs.

"Going into the break feeling good is a good thing," Seager said. "You can kind of relax and sit on it for a few days and hopefully you didn't forget it over the couple days."

Video: SEA@NYY: Seager rips his second homer of the game

He certainly hasn't forgotten how to hit against the Yankees. In his past two games in the Bronx, Seager is 6-for-9 with three homers, two triples, a double and six RBIs.

"This ballpark -- obviously the Yankees and everything -- it has a lot of history to it," said the 27-year-old North Carolina native. "So it's always a cool place. I grew up a Yankees fan, so that's always going to be exciting for me, for sure. It's a good ballpark to hit in."

Seager laced a solo shot off Masahiro Tanaka on a 1-0 curve to tie the game at 1 in the third, then gave his team a 3-2 lead when he unloaded a two-run blast on the first pitch he saw from Tanaka in the fifth.

"Maybe the curveball I might have taken in the past, but I was trying to be aggressive," said Seager, who was 1-for-6 with four strikeouts against Tanaka coming in. "He's tough, so you've got to look for a mistake, basically. And you don't get too many of them."

Seager didn't get much help, however, as Seattle totaled just five hits in seven innings against Tanaka, and six for the game.

"He's been really progressing very well," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He went into the break hot and came out of the break hot. That's nice to see. Hopefully, it's something where the rest of our guys can catch a little bit of that fire."

The multi-homer game was the sixth of Seager's career and second this season after also matching his career high with two against the Rays on May 26.