SEATTLE -- Maybe it's his drop-off-the-table curveball. Maybe it's a confidence that stems from growing up in a country where baseball is a religion and the government is always watching. Maybe it's the fact he's new to the league.Whatever the case, Mariners rookie southpaw Roenis Elias dominated the Tigers on Sunday at Safeco Field, helping Seattle capture two of three games with a 4-0 win to improve to 28-28 on the season.Elias gave up just three hits in his first shutout, striking out eight, walking one and holding down a lineup that entered Sunday leading the American League with a .272 team batting average. 
Only those with an intricate knowledge of the Mariners' farm system knew of Elias entering Spring Training. As a Southern League All-Star with Double-A Jackson last season, he went 6-11 with a 3.18 ERA. This just a few years after the 25-year-old escaped Cuba by moonlight on a 30-hour boat ride filled with refugees searching for a better life. He landed in Cancun, Mexico, eventually signing with the Mariners in 2011 after they saw him at a tryout.When projected starters Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker went down with injuries early in the year, calling into question their availability for the beginning of the season, Elias used the Cactus League to pitch his way into the starting rotation despite never having appeared in a game with Triple-A Tacoma.Two months into the season, Elias is 4-4 with a 3.53 ERA.With the Mariners playing their fourth consecutive game without second baseman Robinson Cano (hand contusion), Elias received help up and down a Mariners lineup that chased Tigers' right-hander Max Scherzer in the seventh inning after Brad Miller hit a solo home run to make it 4-0.In the first inning, right fielder Michael Saunders drove in Endy Chavez with an RBI double, spotting the Mariners an immediate 1-0 lead.Seattle pushed two more across in the fifth when Willie Bloomquist lined a one-out RBI double, then James Jones followed with an RBI single of his own. James went 2-for-4 with an RBI but was replaced with Cole Gillespie because of tightness in his groin. Meanwhile, Chavez, Bloomquist and Seager also chipped in with multi-hit afternoons.With the win, the Mariners finished their season-long homestand with a 6-5 record.Adam Lewis / MLB.com
Only those with an intricate knowledge of the Mariners' farm system knew of Elias entering Spring Training. As a Southern League All-Star with Double-A Jackson last season, he went 6-11 with a 3.18 ERA. This just a few years after the 25-year-old escaped Cuba by moonlight on a 30-hour boat ride filled with refugees searching for a better life. He landed in Cancun, Mexico, eventually signing with the Mariners in 2011 after they saw him at a tryout.When projected starters Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker went down with injuries early in the year, calling into question their availability for the beginning of the season, Elias used the Cactus League to pitch his way into the starting rotation despite never having appeared in a game with Triple-A Tacoma.Two months into the season, Elias is 4-4 with a 3.53 ERA.With the Mariners playing their fourth consecutive game without second baseman Robinson Cano (hand contusion), Elias received help up and down a Mariners lineup that chased Tigers' right-hander Max Scherzer in the seventh inning after Brad Miller hit a solo home run to make it 4-0.In the first inning, right fielder Michael Saunders drove in Endy Chavez with an RBI double, spotting the Mariners an immediate 1-0 lead.Seattle pushed two more across in the fifth when Willie Bloomquist lined a one-out RBI double, then James Jones followed with an RBI single of his own. James went 2-for-4 with an RBI but was replaced with Cole Gillespie because of tightness in his groin. Meanwhile, Chavez, Bloomquist and Seager also chipped in with multi-hit afternoons.With the win, the Mariners finished their season-long homestand with a 6-5 record.Adam Lewis / MLB.com
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