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Mariners pay a visit to Progressive Field

Jul 29, 2014 - 2:08 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Seattle Mariners will try to right the ship when they visit Progressive Field on Tuesday night for the opener of a three-game set with the Cleveland Indians.

Seattle is coming off a dreadful homestand that has seen the team lose five of its last six games, including a pair of 10th-inning losses to the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend.

Reliever Yoervis Medina took the loss after giving up the game-winner on a sacrifice fly to Manny Machado in the 10th inning on Sunday. However, the offense also stranded 11 baserunners.

"We got guys out there but (when) you're 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position in a ballgame like that, that's just not going to get it done," manager Lloyd McClendon said after the Mariners left 11 runners on base and dropped three of four games to the O's.

Seattle and Cleveland both had an off day Monday.

The Indians are back home following a 5-6 road trip that began with three straight wins over AL Central leader Detroit. They followed that up by losing six of their next seven, although Sunday's 10-3 rout over the Kansas City Royals provided some positive vibes after a four-game slide.

Carlos Santana went deep twice, continuing his hot hitting of late as he went 9-for-14 with five homers and eight RBI during the series. The 28-year-old slugger became the first player this season to hit five home runs in a single series.

Santana earned his first career American League Player of the Week honors on Monday. Over the course of the last week, he hit .556 (15-for-27) with three doubles, six homers and 10 RBI.

"Even through his struggles early in the year, he was able to find ways to get on base," infielder Mike Aviles said. "You knew with a guy like him it was only a matter of time before he got back on pace."

The Tribe enters this series trailing the Tigers by 6 1/2 games in the division standings as it begins an eight-game homestand. Cleveland boasts a 29-19 home record on the season.

Toeing the rubber for the Indians on Tuesday is Trevor Bauer, who is unbeaten in his last six home starts. However, the right-hander dropped to 1-4 in road starts on Wednesday against Minnesota, allowing three runs in six innings while fanning seven.

Bauer has yet to surrender more than four earned runs in any of his 14 starts this year.

For Seattle, Hisashi Iwakuma will look to extend a stretch that has seen him go a club-record five straight starts without issuing a walk, a span of 35 2/3 innings. He dropped to 8-5 on the season following Thursday's 4-0 loss to Baltimore, in which he allowed four earned runs in seven innings while striking out five.

"I thought he did a good job. He was a little up to start the game and was able to get away with it a little bit," catcher Mike Zunino said. "But after that third inning ... he did a good job of adjusting."

Iwakuma was 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA through his first four July starts.

The Mariners took two of three from the Tribe during a three-game series in Seattle last month.