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Ibanez hits two homers as Mariners edge Indians

Jun 12, 2007 - 3:27 AM CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Even after losing a seven-run lead, the Seattle Mariners still escaped with a victory.

Raul Ibanez hit two home runs, a triple and the go-ahead RBI double as the Mariners won their fourth straight game, an 8-7 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Monday in the second makeup game of a four-game series.

After Seattle squandered up a 7-0 lead, Ibanez doubled off Indians closer Joe Borowski (0-3) to plate pinch runner Willie Bloomquist and give Seattle an 8-7 advantage in the ninth inning.

"That would have been a heartbreaking loss," Ibanez said. "To be up seven runs and lose, that would have made for a long night back to Chicago."

"(Ibanez) put it where he needed to," Borowski said. "They were hit-and-running on that play and he put it in the right spot. You live with it."

The Mariners, who have won eight of their last nine, broke the game open in the third inning. After Jose Guillen led off with a single, Ibanez blasted a two-run homer to left center off Cleveland starter Paul Byrd to give the Mariners a 3-0 advantage.

Seattle took a 5-0 lead later in the inning when Jose Lopez sent a two-run shot over the center field wall.

Ibanez gave the Mariners even more breathing room in the fourth with his second two-run blast of the game. It was the sixth career two-homer game for Ibanez, who is 11-for-20 in his career against Byrd.

"I think the numbers are deceiving," Ibanez said. "I might have had one good game against him. Sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story."

"The way he played tonight, he should have 20 home runs," Byrd said. "I have no idea how he only had two home runs. He killed us tonight."

Cleveland started cutting into the lead in the fifth when Travis Hafner's base hit plated Kelly Shoppach and Grady Sizemore. Jhonny Peralta then smacked an RBI single to center to cut the advantage to 7-3.

The Indians continued to cut into the deficit in the sixth inning. Shoppach sent an RBI double to right and Casey Blake chased Shoppach home with a single to cut the Mariners lead to 7-5.

"The Indians have an awfully good club," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "Even when you have a five-, six-run lead, you can't relax."

Cleveland tied the game in the eighth on David Dellucci's RBI groundout, which plated Josh Barfield, and Blake's RBI double.

"Our guys showed great fight," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "They never quit. They kept working and we came up a little short. We weren't able to get the one final hit we needed to take the lead."

Brandon Morrow (3-0) recorded the win by pitching two innings, giving up one run, three hits and four walks.

Cha Seung Baek pitched 5 1/3 innings, yielding four runs, nine hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

Byrd lasted just four innings, giving up seven runs and 11 hits, which ties a career high.

"My control didn't show up tonight," Byrd said. "I left a lot of balls up. I didn't feel the ball coming off my hand well at all."

Seattle started the scoring in the first frame when Guillen's single plated Ichiro Suzuki.

Indians right fielder Trot Nixon committed an error in the sixth inning to snap a 114-game errorless streak.

The teams still have to make up two more games from their four-game series, which was snowed out in Cleveland from April 4-7.