Seattle 5, Cleveland 3
When: 10:10 PM ET, Monday, August 20, 2012
Where: Safeco Field, Seattle, Washington
Temperature:
73°
Umpires:
Home -
Ed Hickox, 1B -
Chris Conroy, 2B -
Mark Carlson, 3B -
Wally Bell
Attendance:
14687
By SportsDirect Inc.
Mariners 5, Indians 3: Michael Saunders snapped a seventh-inning tie with his second two-run homer of the night as host Seattle extended its winning streak to six games while handing Cleveland its sixth straight loss.
Eric Thames also went deep for the Mariners, who improved to 6-1 on their nine-game homestand.
Brendan Ryan drew a leadoff walk from Joe Smith (7-4), who promptly was replaced by Tony Sipp. After Dustin Ackley sacrificed, Saunders launched a 2-2 pitch into the seats in right field to give Seattle a 5-3 lead and cap his second two-homer performance of the year.
Charlie Furbush (5-2) tossed two scoreless innings for the win and Tom Wilhelmsen loaded the bases in the ninth before escaping with his 18th save in 20 opportunities.
Jason Kipnis - who grounded into the game-ending double play - got Cleveland on the board early, ringing Seattle starter Kevin Millwood's fifth pitch of the game off the foul pole in right field for his 12th home run of the season and first since June 17 against Pittsburgh. Kipnis had gone 48 games without a blast.
Saunders followed Ackley's two-out single in the third with his 12th homer, giving Seattle a 2-1 edge. The Indians jumped back in front in the fifth as Kipnis and Asdrubal Cabrera hit back-to-back, two-out RBI singles.
Thames forged a 3-3 tie with two outs in the sixth when he deposited a 1-1 offering from Ubaldo Jimenez 10 rows into the right-center field stands.
Kipnis, Cabrera and Ezequiel Carrera had two hits apiece for the Indians, who are 1-6 on their nine-game road trip and have lost 19 of 23 overall.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Seattle has won 13 of its last 14 home games. ... Saunders also homered twice on April 27 at Toronto. ... Trayvon Robinson set a Mariners single-game record for a left fielder by recording 10 putouts. ... Cleveland LHP Rafael Perez, who is on the 60-day disabled list with a left lat injury, hurt his ankle during a minor-league rehab outing Aug. 11 and has yet to return to action.
Top Game Performances
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
Cleveland
|
8 |
1 |
13 |
.242 |
12 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
Seattle
|
8 |
3 |
19 |
.258 |
8 |
9 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |