CLEVELAND — Asdrubal Cabrera broke an 0-for-14 slump with a bases-loaded single in the 11th inning to give the Cleveland Indians a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.
Jhonny Peralta drew a one-out walk off Mark Lowe (1-2). Travis Hafner, hitting sixth to start a game for the first time in more than three years, then doubled to left and Jamey Carroll was hit by a 1-2 pitch, loading the bases.
Sean Green came on and struck out Franklin Gutierrez on three pitches, the final offering way outside. But Cabrera, batting just .190, lined an 0-1 pitch to center and was promptly mobbed by teammates.
The Mariners took a 2-1 lead in the 10th when Richie Sexson hit the first pitch from Masa Kobayashi (2-0) for his 300th career homer. Cleveland tied it in the bottom half on a bases-loaded walk to Grady Sizemore by Seattle closer J.J. Putz.
Sexson, who hit 58 homers for Cleveland at the start of his career in 1997-2000, hit his sixth of the season and 100th since signing with Seattle as a free agent after the 2004 season. The first baseman reached the Mariners milestone in 463 games, quickest in team history.
Putz blew his second save in four tries, yielding a pair of one-out singles and a walk to load the bases. After walking Sizemore to make it 2-2, Putz came back to strike out Casey Blake and David Dellucci — Blake’s fourth strikeout of the game and Dellucci’s third.
Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki had three hits, and his speed helped tie the score 1-1 in the ninth.
Suzuki singled off Indians closer Rafael Betancourt, took second on a one-out wild pitch, stole third and scored when third baseman Blake dropped the throw from catcher Victor Martinez for an error.
Martinez doubled to right with one out for Cleveland’s first hit off Miguel Batista. One out later, Hafner’s line double into the right-field corner broke an 0-for-13 stretch.
Ryan Garko then snapped his 0-for-25 slump with a line single to left-center, but for the second night in a row, third-base coach Joel Skinner decided to challenge Suzuki’s throwing arm — and lost. Skinner waved Hafner around and Suzuki’s throw home was waiting for the lumbering DH for the final out. On Wednesday, Suzuki nailed Blake trying to score on a similar play.
Indians starter Paul Byrd gave up four hits and struck out four over 7 2⁄3 shutout innings. He was in line for the win after the Mariners’ running game took the bat out of Suzuki’s hands in the eighth.
Byrd issued his only walk to rookie Jeff Clement to open the seventh. With pinch-runner Willie Bloomquist on first, the wily veteran fanned Wladimir Balentien and got Yuniesky Betancourt to line out to second baseman Cabrera.
Left-hander Rafael Perez came on to face Suzuki, who had singled twice in three at-bats against Byrd. With a 1-2 count, though, Bloomquist left the .331 career hitter standing at the plate by breaking for second and getting thrown out.
In seven innings, Batista gave up one run and four hits, walking three and striking out six.
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