MLB

A.J. rediscovers form then Mo blows it

SEATTLE — Mariano Rivera walked out of the Yankees’ clubhouse late last night with a chocolate ice cream cone in his right hand and a plastic bag in his other.

Looking at him move toward the exit it was difficult to know if Rivera had posted a save or gave up a game-winning home run.

It was the latter when Ichiro Suzuki shocked the Yankees and Rivera with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth that carried the Mariners, who had been dominated by a resurgent A.J. Burnett for seven innings, to a 3-2 victory in front of 28,935 at Safeco Field.

BOX SCORE

As the stunned Yankees trudged off the field, Rivera absorbed his second blown saves in 42 chances this season and had his string of 36 straight saves fractured.

“It’s definitely going to happen,” said Rivera, who last surrendered a walk-off homer to the A’s Marco Scutaro on April 15, 2007. “If I had made my pitch, I would have gotten out of it and I missed.”

The loss coupled with the Red Sox winning shaved the Yankees’ AL East lead to six games and kept the Yankees’ magic number over their rivals at 10. Their magic number to clinch a playoff spot went from four to three because Texas lost. The six-game bulge is the smallest since Aug. 30.

When Rivera fanned the first two batters in the ninth he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout. But pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney hit the first pitch for a double and Suzuki (4-for-5) crushed the next pitch over the right-field fence.

“I wanted it more inside,” Rivera said of the misplaced pitch to Suzuki that produced the first runs Rivera gave up since Aug. 11.

Rivera’s first flush job since April 24 against the Red Sox, spoiled a very strong effort by Burnett, who was 1-6 with a 6.14 ERA in his previous nine starts and casting some doubt about how effective he could be in the playoffs.

“He pitched beautifully,” Rivera said of Burnett, who gave up a run and seven hits, walked three, hit a batter and fanned six in seven innings.

Burnett, who watched video of his delivery last year and made a concerted effort to work inside with his fastball and breaking pitches, was enthusiastic about the outing. But he understood one good start doesn’t erase an extended streak of bad pitching.

“I pretty much threw the ball where I wanted to,” Burnett said. “I am not going to get too gay on this one.”

Burnett’s previous nine outings weren’t all flops, but the body of work wasn’t good.

Now, after a solid outing the Yankees have their fingers tightly crossed Burnett can finish the season strong and carry it into the playoffs.

Burnett helped himself twice by picking off Suzuki — in the third and seventh innings.

The Yankees didn’t punish Felix Hernandez, a Cy Young candidate. Nevertheless, sacrifice flies by Alex Rodriguez in the first inning and Mark Teixeira in the sixth appeared to be enough to give Burnett a win until the ninth.

One of the two runs Hernandez gave up was unearned because of a passed ball charged to catcher Rob Johnson in the sixth. Hernandez surrendered eight hits and improved to 16-5 with the complete-game win.

Johnny Damon, who started the night in a 4-for-26 (.154) slide, went 3-for-4 and scored a run.

george.king@nypost.com