"The Seattle Mariners are as hot a team as they've been in years, winning five of six games on the road despite a lack of production from the top of their lineup.

When Erik Bedard, David Pauley and Brandon League shut down the opposition, and Franklin Guiterrez homered and scored twice, the Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-0.

And did it without Ichiro Suzuki or Chone Figgins reaching base.

"We'll get Ichiro and Figgy going again," manager Eric Wedge said. "It's a long season, and at various times the top third of your lineup, the middle third and the bottom third will get hot.

"Eventually, we want to be consistent one-through-nine. We're not there yet. Winning without much help up top, that says a lot about our team."

Those five road wins in six games got the Mainers to 24-25 and kept them in the middle of the American League West standings - although some players flew home disappointed.

"The goal was .500," closer League said. "We're pretty close."

League was asked if he liked this trip - when he saved two games - was more enjoyable that the last, when he lost three games.

"No, I really liked that Baltimore-Cleveland trip," he deadpanned, referring to earlier this month when Seattle lost four in a row, two in extra innings when League got the loss. "Over the course of a season, you have blips. That was one. My consistency is better now, the results are better."

Gutierrez is getting past a "blip," too - irritable bowel syndrome - and this was only his sixth game of the season. He walked to open the second inning, then scored from first base on Adam Kennedy's double.

Leading off the fourth inning, Gutierrez hit his first home run of 2011.

"We're doing the little things it takes to win, and any time I can help the team put a run on the board, that's good," he said. "We got an awesome game from Bedard."

Six innings, no runs - despite six hits and a walk - produced Bedard's third win, and after missing most of the past two seasons to arm injuries, the left-hander appears to be back at full strength."