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Aug 21, 2009 - 4:47 AM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Writer

Seattle (62-58) at Cleveland (51-68), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The Seattle Mariners are hovering on the fringe of contention in the AL wild-card race. If they keep blowing leads like they have lately, they could fall out very quickly.

The Mariners look to rebound from a frustrating start to their six-game road trip to the Midwest as they open a three-game series against the Cleveland Indians on Friday night.

Seattle (62-59) is still fighting for playoff position, but it didn't help its cause by dropping two of three at Detroit. The Mariners blew a two-run eighth-inning lead to lose the opener 5-3 on Tuesday night.

After winning the middle game, they couldn't hold on to a 6-2 lead in Thursday's finale, eventually falling 7-6 on Clete Thomas' walk-off single.

"I thought we battled for three days, and we put ourselves in a position to win all three games in the eighth inning or later," manager Don Wakamatsu said. "I'm proud of that, but obviously, you have to be able to close those games out."

Seattle matched a season high with four home runs - one apiece from Jose Lopez, Mike Sweeney, Russell Branyan and Kenji Johjima - on Thursday but still lost for the fifth time in seven games. The Mariners have fallen 7 1/2 games back of Boston for the wild-card spot.

"If you told me we'd hit four homers today and lose, I would have thought you were crazy," Wakamatsu said. "That's a tough loss."

The Indians (52-68) avoided a three-game sweep by beating the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels 11-3 on Thursday night. They're 14-3 since the All-Star break when scoring at least five runs but 3-11 when held to four or fewer.

Matt LaPorta drove in a season-high three runs Thursday in his first game since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus. LaPorta, the centerpiece of the trade that sent CC Sabathia to Milwaukee last summer, struggled in the majors in May, batting .190 in 13 games. The Indians, now less concerned with contending for the playoffs, will likely be more patient with him this time around.

"That will take off some of the pressure to know if you have one bad game, you can come out the next day and have a great game," LaPorta said. "But you still have to continue with the right approach and right focus. That's my main goal."

The Indians outscored the Mariners 31-6 in sweeping a three-game series in Seattle from July 24-26. The Mariners, though, took three of four at Progressive Field in the teams' first series after the All-Star break.

Luke French (2-3, 3.74 ERA) will start the opener for the Mariners. The rookie left-hander gave up four runs - all unearned - in six innings to suffer a 5-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Saturday.

French has never faced Cleveland, which counters with a rookie southpaw of its own. David Huff (7-6, 6.55) has won back-to-back starts, including a 7-3 victory at Minnesota on Saturday in which he allowed two runs in five innings.

Huff lost his only previous game against Seattle on July 17, giving up three runs in five innings of the 6-2 defeat.