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Choo's walkoff blast vaults Indians over Mariners

Aug 23, 2011 - 11:25 PM Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Shin-Soo Choo belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to vault the Cleveland Indians to a 7-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners in the opening game of a doubleheader.

Trayvon Robinson had given the Mariners a 5-4 lead with a two-run double in the top of the ninth, but Ezequiel Carrera began the bottom half with a double, Asdrubal Cabrera reached on a fielder's choice and Choo homered to make a loser of Brandon League (1-5).

"Those guys had a tremendous approach in the ninth inning against League," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "Obviously Choo's three-run homer was huge."

Chris Perez (3-6) was credited with the win despite allowing Robinson's double. He relieved Justin Masterson, who lasted 8 1/3 innings, surrendering five runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts.

Kosuke Fukudome went 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored for the Indians, who halted a four-game losing streak.

Fukudome began the back-and-forth affair with a two-out, RBI double in the first.

The Mariners tied the game a half-inning later with their own two-out flurry. After Mike Carp and Casper Wells were retired, Adam Kennedy reached with a double and scored on Miguel Olivio's subsequent single.

After wasting a Choo double in the third, the Indians grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Fukudome led off with a two-bagger and scored on Lonnie Chisenhall's base hit.

In the fifth, the Mariners again proved resilient with two outs. Robinson got things started with a double. Ichiro Suzuki singled to score Robinson and moved to second on the throw home. Franklin Gutierrez, whose ninth-inning sac fly gave the Mariners a 3-2 victory in Monday's series-opener, scored Suzuki with a double to put Seattle on top, 3-2.

In the top of the sixth, a Fukudome single and a Chisenhall double placed runners at second and third. Matt LaPorta's sac fly made it a 3-3 contest.

The Mariners wasted a one-out double by Kyle Seager in the top of the seventh and the Indians took advantage, grabbing the lead in the bottom half.

Dan Cortes relieved starter Blake Beavan to start the frame and issued a leadoff walk to Luis Valbeuna. He retired the next two batters but walked Choo before leaving with an undisclosed injury.

Carlos Santana singled off Jamey Wright to push across the go-ahead run.

After a scoreless eighth, Masterson, who lost for just the second time in 13 starts, was relieved by Perez following consecutive ninth-inning singles by Olivio and Seager. Robinson put the Mariners on top with a double to right, setting the stage for Choo's heroics in the home half.

"We really stepped up and took it from them, but they took it back," Mariners manager Eric Wedge said.

Game Notes

Beavan allowed three runs on eight hits over six innings...The Indians and Mariners combined to hit 12 doubles in the game...The Indians are now five games behind the AL Central-leading Tigers, who play the Rays Tuesday night...Cleveland narrowly avoided falling under .500 for the first time since dropping two of three games to begin the season...Santana went 1-for-3, stretching his hit streak to eight games... While the game was in progress, an earthquake with a reported preliminary magnitude of 5.9 struck in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. and tremors were felt in the press box at Progressive Field.