SEATTLE (AP) – Jhonny Peralta hit a three-run double and finished with a career-high four RBIs, and the Cleveland Indians held off the Seattle Mariners for a 9-7 victory Sunday.

Casey Blake homered for the Indians, who won three of four from the Mariners.

With the score tied 2-all in the second, the Indians loaded the bases against Joel Pineiro (3-7), who has won just once since April 26 – July 7 at the Angels – a span of 16th starts.

Aaron Boone singled, and Ben Broussard and Grady Sizemore walked with one out. Coco Crisp then hit a one-hopper to third baseman Adrian Beltre, who threw home for the force. But Peralta cleared the bases with his double just inside the third-base line for a 5-2 lead.

The Mariners loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half but scored just once, on Raul Ibanez’s groundout.

Blake hit his 12th homer in the fourth, Ronnie Belliard had a RBI single in the fifth, and Crisp added a sacrifice fly and Peralta a run-scoring groundout in the sixth for a 9-5 lead.

The Mariners, though, rallied back. They scored a pair of runs in the fifth on Mike Morse’s groundout and Dave Hansen’s RBI bloop single.

Seattle scored two more in the sixth with two outs to pull to 9-7. Ibanez had an RBI double before Richie Sexson walked to end Jake Westbrook’s (9-12) day. Beltre greeted reliever Rafael Betancourt with a flyball to center field that Sizemore lost in the sun. The ball bounced into the seats for a ground-rule RBI double and forced Sexson back to third. He was left stranded.

Bob Wickman pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances. He got Ichiro Suzuki to ground out with runners on first and second to end it. Suzuki went 0-for-6.

In the first, Victor Martinez had an RBI single to right field and Jeff Lieber had a run-scoring single to center to give Cleveland a 2-0 lead.

Seattle responded with two-runs in the bottom half, stringing together four straight hits. Jeremy Reed and Ibanez singled. Sexson singled to center, scoring Reed. Beltre hit a run-scoring double. Westbrook then struck out Morse and got Dave Hansen to line out to second.

Westbrook gave up seven runs and 11 hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Notes: Suzuki hit a pitch from Westbrook that bounced in the dirt in the fourth inning. Westbrook threw a ball that landed four feet in front of the plate and Suzuki lowered his bat and swung weakly at the pitch. It floated to second baseman Ronnie Belliard, who caught it … Martinez had eight hits in 20 at-bats (.400) in the four-game series with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs … Left-hander George Sherrill replaced Ron Villone on the roster. Villone was traded to Florida just minutes before the trading deadline. Sherrill worked two scoreless inning.

AP-ES-07-31-05 1934EDT

Copy the Story Link

Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.