• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mariners stop streaking Indians

Aug 30, 2008 - 4:16 AM By Todd Krepop PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- After rain delayed the start of the game for 55 minutes, Raul Ibanez and the Seattle Mariners doused the Cleveland Indians' winning streak.

Felix Hernandez pitched six solid innings and Ibanez homered and drove in three runs as the Mariners ended the Indians' 10-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory on Friday.

The rain didn't cool the hot bat that Ibanez has been swinging in August. Ibanez is hitting .388 (40-103) with seven home runs and 29 RBI during the month.

"I don't give it much thought," Ibanez about his torrid stretch. "You play so many games that you don't think about it. I just try to go out and prepare the best I can."

An RBI single by Ibanez in the first scored Ichiro Suzuki to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Ibanez followed a single by Yuniesky Betancourt and blasted Jeremy Sowers' 0-1 offering into the left-field bleachers for his 22nd home run.

"He threw a fastball away and I got a good part of the bat on it," Ibanez said.

"Raul has been outstanding for us," Seattle manager Jim Riggleman said. "He is making a strong case for Player of the Month for August. He has been doing a great job."

Hernandez (9-8) held the hottest team in baseball to two runs and six hits. The righthander struck out seven, but struggled with control, allowing four walks.

Cleveland threatened Hernandez early, but the righthander got out of jams in the first and second inning with the help of the double-play ball.

"I worked really hard," Hernandez said. "I made pitches when I had to make pitches. The two double plays to get out of innings helped."

Roy Corcoran pitched two scoreless innings and J.J. Putz worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 17 opportunities.

Sowers (2-7) yielded three runs and seven hits in five innings. The lefthander didn't strike out or walk a batter.

"I was up in the zone a little bit," Sowers said. "My off-speed stuff wasn't very good. I wasn't able to go to those pitches like I wanted to. (Seattle) fouled off a lot of pitches and kept me battling."

The Indians cut the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom half of the third when a groundout by Jamey Carroll plated Andy Marte.

Shin-Soo Choo's one-out RBI double in the fourth narrowed Seattle's lead to 3-2, but Choo killed the momentum when he was caught attempting to steal third base.

Cleveland, which was trying to win 11 consecutive games for the first time since 1982, wouldn't draw any closer as they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and grounded into three double plays as they lost for the fourth time in 20 games.

"That was the difference in the ballgame," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "We created innings, but we didn't finish them off."

Victor Martinez was 1-for-3 with a walk in his return from the disabled list. The two-time All-Star catcher had missed the previous two months after undergoing surgery on his right elbow.