Ibanez's late strike lifts Mariners over Indians
CLEVELAND: The Seattle Mariners staved off a remarkable fightback from the Cleveland Indians to eke out an 8-7 victory on Monday, Raul Ibanez clinching the win with a ninth-inning double after he had earlier belted two home runs.
After building a big advantage early in the American League contest, Seattle squandered a 7-0 lead as the Indians scored three runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and two in the eighth.
However, Ibanez drilled a one-out double in the ninth off Joe Borowski to score Jose Vidro and put the Mariners in front for good.
The left fielder also had a triple, finishing one single short of the cycle, as the Mariners won their fourth straight game and their eighth in the past nine.
"Raul swung the bat well, he was big tonight," Seattle manager Mike Hargrove told reporters.
The contest was a make-up game after it was originally postponed due to snow on April 7.
Brandon Morrow (3-0) allowed the two eighth-inning runs that tied the game, but pitched two innings of relief to get credit for the victory as regular closer J.J. Putz was unavailable after saving the last three games in a row.
"I knew it in the eighth inning that it would be up to me to finish, unless we went extra innings," Morrow said. "After that (eighth) inning, I tried to stay positive."
The Mariners went in front on Jose Guillen's first-inning RBI single and added four more runs in the third on two-run homers by Jose Lopez and Ibanez off Cleveland starter Paul Byrd.
Ibanez hit another two-run homer in the fourth to make it 7-0 before the Indians started their comeback.
The Mariners had 16 hits off four Cleveland pitchers, with Borowski (0-3) taking the loss, allowing a run on three hits in the ninth.
Cleveland had 15 hits off five Seattle pitchers, including three by Casey Blake, who also drove in two runs while stretching his hitting streak to 20 games.
Travis Hafner also drove in two runs for the Tribe.
*Barry Bonds hit career home run number 747 as the San Francisco Giants beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in Interleague play. Bonds is now just eight homers from tying Hank Aaron for the all-time career lead.
*The Philadelphia Phillies got home runs from Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins to defeat the Chicago White Sox 3-0. Adam Eaton pitched seven shutout innings for the Phillies.
*Carlos Zambrano homered and pitched eight strong innings as the Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 2-1 in National League action.
Agencies
(China Daily 06/13/2007 page24)
