John Froschauer, Associated Press Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima can't stop Nate McLouth from sliding safely into home on a single hit by Adam LaRoche in the first inning last night in Seattle. Click photo for larger image. TODAY: Game: Pirates (LHP Paul Maholm 3-9, 5.00) vs. Seattle Mariners (RHP Jeff Weaver 0-6, 10.97), 10:05 p.m., Safeco Field. TV, radio: FSN Pittsburgh, WPGB-FM (104.7). Key matchup: Perhaps no pitcher in the majors has fared worse than Weaver. He has yet to pitch more than six innings in any of his 10 starts, and his opponents are batting a mind-boggling .413. Of note: Two nights later, the Pirates are scheduled to face Weaver's younger brother, Jered, of the Los Angeles Angels. More Coverage: Pirates Notebook: Tracy sticks by Paulino as catcher Bob Smizik: Pirates' ownership not likely to change fiscal ways Pirates spoof of 'Sopranos' hitting it big on YouTube Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic

SEATTLE -- It did not matter, Masumi Kuwata protested politely, that the game was on the line when the call came to the Pirates' bullpen.

"I don't care," he would say later. "Losing, winning, tough situation, easy situation ... it doesn't matter. I'm very happy to pitch."

Neither did it matter, he insisted, that Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle's superstar and a fellow baseball icon in Japan, was on deck and poised to pounce if he failed.

OK, maybe a little.

"Yes, I was watching the next hitter," Kuwata recalled with a slight grin. "I know he was waiting."

Suzuki would keep on waiting, thanks to Kuwata's pivotal performance in putting down Seattle's eighth-inning rally, and the Pirates would fend off the Mariners, 5-3, last night at Safeco Field.

Tom Gorzelanny went seven strong innings to improve to 7-4, Freddy Sanchez and Jason Bay each had two hits, and a five-man bullpen effort was finished off in sterling fashion by Shawn Chacon striking out Jose Guillen and Raul Ibanez for his first save in three years.

But, beyond a doubt, it was Kuwata who tilted the outcome his team's way.

Manager Jim Tracy, outwardly concerned about his bullpen with Matt Capps serving the first of his three-game suspension, had gotten all he could out of Gorzelanny. He fought off eight Seattle hits and five leadoff batters reaching base to limit the Mariners to two runs.

By the time he exited, fanning Guillen with his 123rd pitch shortly after Seattle had cut the Pirates' lead to 5-2, he had "absolutely zero left in the tank," by his own admission.

So, Tracy started flipping through his relief Rolodex.

John Grabow got the first out of the eighth, but Jonah Bayliss gave up a monster home run to Richie Sexson and, after another out, a single and a walk to put the tying runs aboard.

Tracy summoned Kuwata, whose resume included two Major League Baseball games, five total as a North American professional.

And the Mariners countered with Ben Broussard, whose statistical highlight this season was a .333 mark as a pinch-hitter.

Still, as Tracy reasoned, the last thing he wanted was a walk.

"The one thing you know you're going to get from Masumi is strikes," Tracy said. "He's not going to let you set the stage by giving up walks."

Kuwata, true to that expectation, came right at Broussard with fastballs. He moved them around a bit to keep Broussard guessing but, given that he might not have penetrate a soggy paper towel with his 86-mph velocity, he surely was not thinking strikeout while running up that 2-1 count.

"I wanted to get a ground ball," Kuwata said. "I trust my defense."

The fourth pitch was slightly different, a sinker, and it produced the desired result: Broussard grounded meekly to first baseman Adam LaRoche to end the threat and leave Suzuki, owner of a 14-game hitting streak and frighteningly typical .358 average, waiting until the next inning.

"A huge spot for us," Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson said.

"The key point in the game," Tracy called it. "He obviously has great confidence in his stuff, and that's what you saw."

Suzuki saw it, too, from the on-deck circle.

"Compared with when I saw him in Japan, he looks very comfortable," Suzuki said. "We need to get a hit off him there but, watching him come out from the bullpen, half of me feels like he's going to get us out."

Tracy's patchwork relief continued into the ninth.

He brought in Damaso Marte to open it, mostly because of the left-handed Suzuki leading off but partly because the switch-hitter after him, Jose Vidro, is not as dangerous from the right side. Marte walked Suzuki on five pitches, then got Vidro to fly out.

Chacon came on and crushed any suspense, catching Guillen looking at a 93-mph fastball on the outer corner and getting Ibanez to swing under heat of the same velocity.

Seven pitches, six strikes, good night.

"Great job," Tracy said.

"I remember from my days as a closer that you get into trouble when hitters get their counts," Chacon said. "I wanted to go right at them."

For Chacon, who had not closed since filling that role with the Colorado Rockies in 2004, it was his first save since Sept. 22 of that year.

For the Pirates as a whole, playing in Seattle for the first time, the game was not nearly as pretty as the picturesque Pacific Northwest.

That was particularly true of the offense, which stranded 10 runners and went 0 for 4 with the bases loaded.

"We did leave some guys out there, but we had some big at-bats, too," Wilson said. "You look at the box score, and we just kept adding a run here and there."

The Pirates dashed to a 2-0 lead in the first, thanks largely to a rare mistake by Sexson.

After one out, Nate McLouth lashed a ball toward first base. Sexson tried to short-hop it, but it caromed into foul territory for his first error in 541 chances this season. One out later, LaRoche's single to right scored McLouth.

Bay's single and Nady's walk filled the bases, and Miguel Batista's four-pitch walk to Ryan Doumit brought another run.

From there, the Pirates added solo runs in the fifth on Sanchez's RBI double to deep center, in the sixth on Jose Bautista's RBI groundout with the bases loaded and in the seventh on Bay's infield single and resultant throwing error by Seattle shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

No big boom but, again, no complaints.

"We had enough," Tracy said.

The Pirates have a chance tonight to take their first series from an opponent with a winning record, and a golden one at that: Seattle's starter is Jeff Weaver, 0-6 with a 10.97 ERA.