SEATTLE — Cliff Lee followed up his All-Star start with his second complete game of the season, scattering 11 hits Sunday in the Cleveland Indians’ 6-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Lee became the American League’s first 13-game winner and Kelly Shoppach ended an 0-for-13 funk with a decisive, three-run homer off injured starter Carlos Silva in the fourth.
Shoppach tied a career high with four RBI, helping Cleveland to its second consecutive win following 10 straight road defeats — its longest such skid since 1991.
Seattle flopped to 22 games below .500 at the bottom of the AL West.
The Mariners lost Silva to back tightness immediately after Shoppach’s home run, the latest ailment for a sick, injured and ineffective rotation.
Seattle lost for the eighth time in 11 games and is 13-13 since firing manager John McLaren on June 19 and replacing him with Jim Riggleman.
Four of the season-high 11 hits allowed by Lee (13-2) stayed in the infield. He struck out four and walked none in his fifth career complete game.
The last Indians pitcher to yield at least 11 hits in a complete-game win was Charles Nagy, who gave up 13 against Baltimore on June 17, 1992, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
After making his first All-Star team, Lee was picked to start Tuesday night for the AL at Yankee Stadium. He struck out his first two batters and tossed two scoreless innings.
The left-hander was on top of his game again Sunday. He threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of his first 20 batters, and 41 of his first 50 pitches were strikes. Only one Mariner even saw ball three: Miguel Cairo with two outs in the seventh. Cairo then tripled home Jose Lopez to make it 6-2.
Lee’s 2.29 ERA is second in the AL to Oakland’s Justin Duchscherer (1.87).
Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the second on a leadoff double by Adrian Beltre, a groundout and an RBI infield single by slow-running Jose Vidro.
Cleveland tied it in the third on a double by Asdrubal Cabrera, a groundout and a sacrifice fly by David Dellucci.
Silva (4-12) allowed a double to Johnny Peralta in the fourth and an infield single to Shin-Soo Choo before Shoppach’s drive just over the left-field scoreboard, his eighth home run. Mariners trainer Rick Griffin immediately joined Riggleman and all the infielders on the mound with Silva. The bullish, 250-plus-pound right-hander walked off the field alone following a brief consultation. He was replaced by Roy Corcoran.
Silva is in the first season of a $48 million, four-year contract. He has won once in 17 starts since April 17.
A double by Grady Sizemore, an RBI single by Casey Blake and another RBI single by Shoppach against Corcoran made it 6-1 in the fifth.
J.J. Putz pitched a perfect seventh hours after Seattle activated him from the 15-day disabled list. His final pitch was a darting, 96 mph splitter that Choo swung over — a hint that Putz might be fully recovered from the hyperextended elbow that had him on the DL since June 12.
Riggleman said last year’s All-Star closer, who has struggled this season, will initially appear in non-save situations while fill-in Brandon Morrow remains the closer.
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