CINCINNATI (AP) -- Joe Saunders pitched seven efficient innings and Nick Franklin and Justin Smoak each homered to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 3-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.
A day after the Reds scored 13 runs, they managed just six hits and a run off Saunders. The left-hander allowed only two baserunners to reach third in the first six innings and retired 11 consecutive batters before Chris Heisey doubled into the left field corner with one out in the fifth inning.
Saunders (7-8) walked none and struck out two while winning back-to-back starts for the first time this season.
Charlie Furbush pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Tom Wilhelmsen was perfect in the ninth for his 18th save, helping the Mariners pick up their second win of the three-game series and improve to 10-2 against the Reds since interleague play began in 1997.
The Reds went down in order in six of their nine innings.
Bronson Arroyo (7-7) overcame a 32-pitch first inning to complete six, allowing five hits and three runs with one walk and six strikeouts. He retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.
Franklin hit Arroyo's 10th pitch of the game 380 feet into the right field seats for his sixth home run of the season and second in the first inning in three games. He hit a two-run homer on Friday off of Mike Leake, also in the first inning.
Smoak extended the lead to 3-0 with a two-run drive into the left field seats on the first pitch he saw from Arroyo with two outs in the third inning. The 378-foot shot, which followed Kyle Seager's one-out walk, was Smoak's seventh.
The Reds broke up the shutout bid in the seventh with back-to-back one-out doubles by Todd Frazier and Heisey before Saunders finished his day by getting Ryan Hanigan and pinch-hitter Derrick Robinson to ground out.
NOTES: Franklin's home run was the club-record 235th allowed by Arroyo in his eight seasons with the Reds. He went into the game tied with former LHP Tom Browning for the record. ... It was the Mariners' 22nd first-inning homer this season, most in the majors. ... Raul Ibanez extended his hitting streak to 12 games (18 for 50, .360) with a first-inning single to left. ... The Reds left after their 4-2 homestand on a seven-game road trip, starting with three at Milwaukee. RHP Homer Bailey, who threw a no-hitter against the Giants on Tuesday, will try to match Johnny Vander Meer's 1938 feat of no-hitters in back-to-back starts. ... After going 4-2 on their road trip, the Mariners are scheduled to open a seven-game homestand with four against Boston. All-Star pitchers Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma are the Mariners' projected starters on Monday and Tuesday.
