And this time, they were able to build on that, finally fashioning a victory, 6-3 over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. The win snapped a five-game losing streak.

“I don’t know if you can (wash away the frustrations on a single swing),” Ibañez said. “The last game or the last at-bat, everything in baseball – the last day, the last week – you’ve got to kind of put it behind you and start over. … But it worked out (Sunday), and I’d like to see us build on that.”

The first two innings gave little indication that fortunes were about to change for a struggling team that had lost 10 of its previous 11 games.

Starting pitcher Miguel Batista allowed the first three White Sox batters to reach base, causing at least one spectator in the crowd of 30,346 to yell for manager John McLaren to get somebody up in the bullpen.

Batista managed to get out of the inning just two runs down, but two runs has been no small thing for the Seattle offense recently.

That was only emphasized in the second inning, when the Mariners loaded the bases with no outs and came away empty.

However, their fortunes were about to change.

In the third inning, Seattle surged into the lead on the towering two-run shot by Ibañez, although he accepted no style points for sending the ball 117 feet beyond the right-field wall.

“I hit that one pretty good,” he said. “I know that if it goes 326 it counts (the same) … so I don’t get very excited about it.”

Suddenly playing with their first lead since May 5, the Mariners made it stand up with the time-tested formula: solid pitching, hitting and defense.

After his wobbly start, Batista continued to weave in and out of trouble. He held the White Sox at bay until the sixth, when they nicked him for one more run, cutting the score to 6-3.

“Miguel battled and gave us everything he had, and it allowed us to line the bullpen up just the way we wanted,” closer J.J. Putz said. “It was nice. A good team game right there. … It was just a solid win, and we need to build from this.”

Arthur Rhodes, Sean Green and Brendan Morrow protected the three-run lead through the late innings before Putz came in and recorded his third save.

“It was nice being in the energy like that again,” Putz said. “It’s been a while. … If I’m not getting opportunities, more times than not it means we’re not winning. The object is to get the ball to me in the ninth, and that’s what we were able to do.”

The Mariners gave Putz the ball not only with the lead but with some breathing room, thanks to several offensive contributors.

Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Lopez had three hits each, while Ibañez, Miguel Cairo and Yuniesky Betancourt drove in two runs each.

“I thought there were some good signs (Saturday) swinging the bats,” manager John McLaren said. “We hit the ball hard (Sunday). I mean, we really came out swinging the bats. We hit some balls against the fence, some line drives. It was very positive.”

After the game, the Mariners flew to Texas where they will begin a three-game series tonight against the Rangers – the team immediately ahead of them in the American League West.

“We’re looking for a big series there,” McLaren said. “… We have a good ballclub. Things haven’t gone well, but we believe in ourselves. I believe in these guys. … We’re going to keep these guys going, get ourselves out of the hole and get on a roll.”