"That's our motto -- 27 outs,'' said Everett, who stroked a dramatic three-run home run in the ninth inning Wednesday night to lift the Mariners to a 9-6 victory over the Texas Rangers.

"I don't want to take the credit for it, but personally, I do stress that. I've seen many a wins with 26 outs.''

The Mariners, frustrated all evening in their efforts to bust open a big rally, scored eight runs over the final three innings, including a five-run ninth.

Trailing, 6-4, entering the ninth, the Mariners put together the framework of their rally against Rangers closer Francisco Cordero. Cordero hit Ichiro Suzuki to open the inning.

"Starting the ninth with Ichiro leading off, getting hit by the pitch, I think everyone perked up a little more,'' manager Mike Hargrove said. "They were ready for the ninth. You could feel it kind of building during the game.''

Jose Lopez followed with a double into the left-field corner. Raul Ibanez hit a sacrifice fly deep to right, scoring Ichiro, while Lopez tagged and reached third.

Richie Sexson hit an RBI single to left, scoring Lopez and tying the game at 6. Matt Lawton ran for Sexson. Kenji Johjima singled up the middle to usher in left-hander C.J. Wilson. With the entire team perched on the top step of the dugout, Everett then connected on a 1-1 pitch for his three-run shot against the second-deck facade in left field.

"He tried to throw a slider in. It didn't get in,'' Everett said. "To me, the pressure is on the pitcher there because he doesn't want the bases loaded.''

Ichiro, in an uncharacteristic season-starting slump, had four hits to raise his batting average 50 points to .227. Hank Blalock rapped out three hits and three RBIs for the Rangers.

"The past two years, we didn't have a win like this,'' Ichiro said. "During this past two years, this is the most excited I've been. I hope it results in a better mood for the future.''

The Mariners had lost the previous two games in frustrating fashion. Boston's Mark Loretta hit a two-run, two-out walk-off home run Monday to beat the Mariners, 7-6. On Tuesday, the Mariners fell behind, 4-1, early and never recovered in a 7-4 loss.

"I think it gives us added confidence,'' said Everett, who signed a one-year free agent contract over the winter. "This team already had the confidence because they know one pitch or one hit in any of the games we lost, we could have won.''

Mariners starter Jamie Moyer gyrated in and out of trouble. He gave up eight hits and four runs in his six innings as he has yet to win after four starts. Rangers starter Kevin Millwood kept it mostly under control in his seven-plus innings. He allowed three runs on 12 hits but five hits came after two outs.

With the score tied at 1 in the fourth, Moyer put himself in jeopardy. He yielded opening singles to Blalock and Kevin Mench then walked Brad Wilkerson to load the bases with no outs. Gerald Laird popped up to third but D'Angelo Jimenez hit into a force at second, allowing Blalock to score for a 2-1 lead.

The Rangers made it 4-1 in the fourth, beginning with back-to-back doubles by Michael Young and Mark Teixeira. Teixeira took third on Phil Nevin's long flyout to left and scored on Blalock's single to right against a drawn-in infield.

The Mariners threatened with a two-out rally in the fifth. Yuniesky Betancourt singled to center. Ichiro lifted a soft single to left then Lopez reached on an infield single, loading the bases for Ibanez. Ibanez worked the count to 3-2 before Millwood induced a high popout to second.

"Baseball is a game of frustration,'' Hargrove said. "If you allow failures in this game to affect you to the point you can't perform, then you need to do something else because it's a game built on failure. The key is to give yourself more opportunities then the percentages move to your side.''

Blalock's two-run single off Julio Mateo in the seventh made it 6-1.

The Mariners came back with one in the seventh, on Ichiro's bloop single to right-center. They pushed two more across in the eighth. Ibanez scored on a double-play groundout by Johjima. Everett and Adrian Beltre followed with back-to-back doubles off Antonio Alfonseca. It was Beltre's first RBI of the season.

Akinori Otsuka ended the rally by inducing a one-hopper back to the mound by pinch-hitter Roberto Petagine, but Cordero couldn't close it off in the ninth.

"We started off slowly,'' Everett added, "but then again, 27 outs.''