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Beltre powers Mariners past Indians

Aug 31, 2008 - 9:39 PM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Not much has gone right for the Seattle Mariners this season, but on Sunday the Mariners finally received some good luck.

Adrian Beltre belted two home runs and Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched 6 1/3 strong innings as the Seattle held on for a 6-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians for their first sweep in Cleveland since 1991.

But it didn't come easy for the Mariners, who saw their five run lead whittled down to two runs in the ninth. With closer J.J. Putz unavailable, Seattle manager Jim Riggleman turned to Rory Corcoran to preserve the victory.

Corcoran, who picked up his first major league save in Tuesday's win immediately walked the first two batters he faced on eight pitches before striking out slugger Victor Martinez. Corcoran worked himself back into trouble by walking Jhonny Peralta to load the bases.

Despite Corcoran's control problems, Riggleman decided to keep the righthander on the mound.

"If they were horrible pitches, I would have been concerned," he said. "He wasn't missing that much and I was confident he would find the strike zone.

Ryan Garko followed with a high-chopper off the mound that deflected off of Corcoran's glove and the young righthander immediately thought that he had blown the save.

"I thought I tipped it enough that it would go up the middle," Corcoran said.

But the ball bounced right to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt who started the game-ending double play.

"The Mariners finally got a break," Riggleman said.



Beltre blasted a solo home run off of Zach Jackson in the second to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead and capped Seattle's five-run fifth with a two-run shot for his 19th career multi-homer game and to give the Mariners' a 6-1 advantage.

"Beltre had a big day," Riggleman said. "He's a tough player and a great guy. He is one of the leaders on this team.

Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez each had RBI singles in the fifth inning that featured two errors by the Indians' defense.

Rowland-Smith (4-2) held the Indians to two runs - one earned - on seven hits. He struck out two batters and then watched as his team hung onto the lead.

"I was happy with the way I threw," Rowland-Smith said. "But it's tough to watch from the dugout."

Cleveland loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth trailing 6-2, but Franklin Gutierrez bounced into an RBI fielder's choice and another run scored when second baseman Jose Lopez's throw ended up in the dugout to cut the Mariners lead to 6-4.

But Batista retired the next two batters without any damage to end the threat.

The Indians were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and finished the three-game series a woeful 3-for-29.

"We had chances late again," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "We were one hit away from tying or winning it in all three games. That was the story of the series."

Jackson (0-1) was knocked around for six runs on seven hits in five innings. The lefthander acquired in the CC Sabathia deal struck out five and walked one.

Shin-Soo Choo homered for the Indians, who have followed their 10-game winning streak with a three-game losing streak.