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Barfield, Blake propel Indians past Mariners

May 22, 2007 - 4:12 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- After inclement weather wiped out this early-season series, the Cleveland Indians looked to Josh Barfield to reign supreme against the Seattle Mariners

Barfield had a decisive two-run double and Casey Blake hit a solo home as the Indians defeated the Mariners, 5-2, on Monday in the first of four makeup games between the teams.

Victor Martinez had a hit and drove in a run and Grady Sizemore had a double and scored a run for Cleveland, which played this contest as part of a series that was wiped out due to snowstorms in the area in early April.

Monday's victory improved the Indians' home record to 17-4, the best in the major leagues. Cleveland is 15-3 at Jacobs Field and 2-1 at Miller Park.

With the Indians leading, 2-1, in the seventh inning, Trot Nixon and Jhonny Peralta led off with singles before David Dellucci walked to load the bases. After a strikeout, Barfield lined the first pitch from Cha Seung Baek to the base of the left field wall, scoring two runs to increase the lead to 4-1.

"I just went up there and got a pitch to hit," Barfield said. "I am seeing the ball better and having some good at-bats. I seem to hit better with me on base because you tend to focus more."

After the double knocked Baek out of the game, Sizemore hit a sacrifice fly off reliever Eric O'Flaherty to make it 5-1.

Blake broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth, when he belted a 2-2 pitch by Baek over the 19-foot left field wall to put the Indians up by a run. It was Blake's fourth homer of the season.

"I think I made two bad pitches the whole night," Baek said. "I threw a changeup to Blake, but it was up. I tried to throw one away to Barfield, but it was down the middle."

Tom Mastny (3-1) relieved C.C. Sabathia to start the sixth and pitched 1 2/3 innings to earn the victory. Rafael Betancourt worked 1 1/3 before Roberto Hernandez came on to pitch the ninth.

However, after Hernandez surrendered two hits and a walk to load the bases with no outs, Joe Borowski relieved him and recorded three straight outs to earn his league-leading 14th save.

"(Borowski) did a real good job," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He's done a real good job the last couple of games for us."

Despite surrendering only a run, Sabathia struggled, allowing two runners in each inning he pitched, including the leadoff man in frames two, three and four.

"I don't know if they made me work or I was out of sync," Sabathia said. "They did a good job of laying off of my off-speed stuff. I looked up in the third inning and saw how many pitches I threw. I thought it would have been the fifth."

It was just the second time in 22 starts the lefthander failed to pitch at least six innings. The 26-year-old was trying to become the majors' second seven-game winner along with Boston's Josh Beckett.

Baek (1-2) allowed five runs, eight hits and a walk to lose his second straight game. The righthander, who struck out six, is 0-2 lifetime vs. Cleveland.

The Indians scored in the first when Sizemore hammered a leadoff double to the right-center field wall. After two popouts, Martinez singled to right field off Baek to plate Sizemore for a 1-0 lead.

The Mariners tied the score in he fourth inning. After Kenji Johjima hit a booming double off the left field wall to lead off the frame, Jose Lopez singled to left, plating Johjima to knot the game at 1-1.

Seattle could have taken a lead in the fifth on a two-out double by Richie Sexson, but Jose Guillen, who was trying to score from first base, was cut down by a relay throw from Barfield to Martinez.

"I heard (Seattle's) third base coach telling him to go," Barfield said. "I got the ball and just turned around and threw it home as quick as possible."

"Barfield did a great job of making a strong throw and Vic did a great job of blocking the plate and making the tag," Wedge said. "That was a big play."

Jose Vidro had three hits and Johjima and Sexson each had two for the Mariners, who outhit the Indians, 12-5.

Snow postponed the entire April 6-9 set between the teams and forced the Indians to play a home series against the Los Angeles Angels at Milwaukee's Miller Park from April 10-12. The April 7-8 games will be played at Jacobs Field on June 11 and Aug. 30, respectively. The April 9 game will be played in Seattle on September 26 as part of a doubleheader.

"The more games we knock off, the better we'll all feel," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said of playing on a scheduled off-day. "It's not any more pleasant for the Indians than it is for us. This is a tough part of the schedule. We just have to deal with it."