Indians rock Seattle for 4 homers in 12-3 win
SEATTLE — In three days, the Cleveland Indians may have clubbed the Seattle Mariners out of contention.
Grady Sizemore got it started with the 20th leadoff homer of his career, Jhonny Peralta hit his second career grand slam and the Indians hit four long balls in a 12-3 win over the Mariners to complete a three-game sweep.
Seattle entered the weekend with optimism about its chances in both the AL West and wild card races after a 5-2 road trip after the All-Star break. That optimism crumbled underneath an offensive onslaught by an Indians squad with the second-worst record in the American League.
Cleveland arrived in Seattle complaining about its lack of offense and extra-base hits. They left after hitting 11 homers, scoring 31 runs, collecting 39 hits and sweeping the Mariners in Seattle for the first time in 11 years.
Seattle entered the weekend seven games over .500 mostly because of a pitching staff that has made up for a light-hitting offense all season.
But those arms took a beating during a warm weekend where the myth of Safeco Field being unfriendly to the long ball was debunked by the Indians.
Facing its eighth straight lefty starter in Seattle’s Jason Vargas, Sizemore lined the sixth pitch of the game into the right field seats for his 14th homer of the season. Peralta broke the game open with his grand slam in the fifth that greeted reliever Shawn Kelley. And Travis Hafner and Ben Francisco added back-to-back shots in the sixth off Miguel Batista that brought a cascade of boos.
Seattle didn’t lose any ground in the AL West (7½ back of the Angels) or the Wild Card (6½ behind Boston). But the Indians’ sweep, combined with Sunday’s news that starter Erik Bedard is back in the disabled list, might finally push Seattle into “seller” mode with Friday’s nonwaiver trade deadline looming.
Cliff Lee shutdown the Mariners for the second time since the All-Star break to inch his record closer to .500. Lee gave up just one-run in a complete-game victory over Seattle on July 16, then matched that effort a few days later in a win over Toronto.
On Sunday, Lee (7-9) gave up a pair of first-inning runs on Franklin Gutierrez’s two-out single before retiring the next 13 straight. The streak was broken by Ichiro Suzuki’s single leading off the sixth, but the reigning AL Cy Young winner finished seven strong innings, giving up just six hits and two runs. He struck out four and walked none.
Vargas (3-4) was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to make Sunday’s start, his first with the Mariners since July 8. He scraped through four innings giving up just two runs, before failing to record an out in the fifth. Sizemore and Asdrubal Cabrera reached to start the inning before Shin-soo Choo’s RBI single. Ryan Garko was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and Vargas was pulled.
Kelley then hung a 1-1 curveball in the middle of the strike zone and Peralta didn’t miss, hitting his seventh homer of the season and first since July 8.
Notes: Seattle LF Michael Saunders picked up his first major-league hit in the seventh and added an RBI single in the ninth. … Peralta’s other grand slam came in 2006 against Tampa Bay. … Cleveland is scheduled to face its ninth straight lefty starter on Monday in the Angels’ Joe Saunders. According to STATS, it’ll be the first time in Indians’ history that has happened since at least 1919.
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