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Lee sharp again as Indians drop Mariners

Jul 21, 2008 - 12:43 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- All-Star Cliff Lee pitched his fifth career complete game and Kelly Shoppach homered and drove in four runs as the Cleveland Indians posted a 6-2 victory over the dismal Seattle Mariners on Sunday afternoon.

Casey Blake and David Dellucci each knocked in a run for the Indians, who have won six of their last seven.

Shoppach's three run homer in the fourth - his eighth of the season and first since July 4 - followed a double by Jhonny Peralta and Shin-Soo Choo's infield hit to snap a 1-1 tie. His four RBI tied a career high.

Lee (13-2), who started Tuesday's All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, got into trouble when Jose Lopez and Jose Vidro each singled to start the seventh. Kenji Johjima grounded into his second double play of the game, but Miguel Cairo tripled into the right-field corner to drive in Lopez and make the score 6-2. However, Lee got Yuniesky Betancourt to pop out and prevent further damage.

Lee's 13 victories lead the American League and he is tied with Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks for most in the majors.

"Cliff made some good pitches and his curveball came into play today," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "He threw strike one all day long, he did a good job of pitching inside to both righties and lefties and he mixed his pitches."

Even though Lee tied a career high by giving up 11 hits, Mariners manager Jim Riggleman was still impressed.

"He is really good," Riggleman said. "He's got a nice, smooth delivery. The ball sneaks up on the hitter a little bit and then he mixes in a real good changeup. That's classic pitching."

"I could definitely tell that after the fifth inning I was pretty efficient," said Lee, who threw 109 pitches, 84 of them for strikes. "I still felt fresh out there and they were swinging early and making contact. They were being aggressive early in the count and they played into my gameplan."

Carlos Silva (4-12) started for the Mariners but left the game with a lower back strain with no one out in the fourth after giving up Shoppach's blast.

"Right now, the news is good," Riggleman said about Silva's injury. "The training staff checked him out, and they seem to think he'll be all right."

Silva, who began the year 3-0, is 1-12 in his last 17 starts. The 29-year-old righthander gave up four runs and four hits with a walk and a strikeout in three-plus innings.

Blake and Shoppach had RBI singles against reliever Mark Lowe in the fifth to extend Cleveland's lead to 6-1.

The Mariners took a brief 1-0 lead in the second inning when Adrian Beltre doubled, took third on a groundout and scored on Vidro's sacrifice fly.

But the Indians responded with a run of their own in the third when Dellucci hit a sacrifice fly to score Asdrubal Cabrera.

Reliever J.J. Putz, who had been on the disabled list since June 13 with a hyperextended right elbow, was activated before Sunday's game and came in to pitch a perfect seventh inning for the Mariners, who lost for the seventh time in 10 games as their overall record fell to 38-60, worst in the American League.

"J.J. threw good and used all his pitches," Riggleman said. "He didn't have any reservations about throwing any of his pitches. He had a nice, clean inning. That was encouraging."