Sometimes the numbers lie.

Unfortunately for Mike Maroth, sometimes they flat-out tell the truth.

The Mariners continued to hammer home a career-long point against the Detroit pitcher, scoring six runs off the left-hander in less than two innings on their way to a comfortable 9-3 win last night at Safeco Field.

The Mariners have battered Maroth in his six career starts against them for 43 hits and 27 earned runs over 26-1/3 innings, leaving him with a woeful 9.23 earned-run average against Seattle.

The complete team performance — eight starters had at least one hit, Richie Sexson homered twice and Jamie Moyer allowed five hits over eight innings — gave Seattle (44-56) the series win and halted, at least temporarily, a six-out-of-eight-game losing stumble.

Not that last night's episode was entirely Maroth's fault.

The Mariners led only 3-0 when they loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second. Adrian Beltre drove a fly ball to the warning track and Tigers center fielder Craig Monroe drifted back easily for what should have been the inning-ending out.

But the ball doinked off the heel of Monroe's glove and into the dirt, to the jeering delight of 29,323. By the time the Tigers relayed the ball home, the Mariners had cleared the bases and led 6-0.

The damage was done, and so was Maroth — after four walks, five hits and only 55 pitches.

Another set of numbers favorable for the Mariners was Moyer's performance at home this season. He has a 6-0 record in Seattle after giving up only two runs last night. In 11 starts at Safeco, Moyer has a 2.64 ERA.

"We got him those three runs in the first inning, and if anything, [Moyer] got tougher," said Mariners manager Mike Hargrove. "With him on the mound, I feel more comfortable than with anyone else that I've had in a long time."

Early on, the 42-year-old slow-baller (9-3, 4.33 ERA) again proved masterful at escaping jams. In the first four innings, he gave up five hits and left five men on base.

But the Tigers couldn't flash their claws when it mattered, going hitless in their first five at-bats with men in scoring position.

Moyer really baffled the Tigers in the middle innings, retiring 10 in a row from the fourth through the seventh before giving up harmless back-to-back RBI singles in the eighth.

"This is a team that can be pretty aggressive early in the count, so it worked in my favor tonight," said Moyer, who struck out five.

Sexson, who has six home runs in his past 11 games, continues to provide the power. In the bottom of the fourth, after Raul Ibanez walked, Sexson smashed a ball so high into the summer-night sky, it got lost for a moment in the glittering stadium lights above the Safeco Field sign in left field.

When it finally landed, Sexson's 25th home run of the season had found a happy fan in the first row of the upper deck, an estimated 448 feet from the plate.

He jacked another one in the eighth, his 26th, a solo shot to deep right-center. Sexson has two multi-homer games this season — he also did it on opening day — and 20 for his career.

"I'll take the wall-scrapers too," said Sexson, who also walked three times and tied a career-high with four runs scored. "They're just as neat."

The Mariners squeezed Maroth early and never let up.

Ichiro slashed a single to left-center field to lead off the bottom of the first. The hit, one of his two in the game, continued a red-hot July. He came into the game hitting .356 during the month. Ichiro has a .345 career batting average in July, best among active major leaguers.

Ichiro just missed his eighth homer of the season in the bottom of the seventh. He tomahawked a high fastball deep into the right-field stands, but it landed barely foul.