SEATTLE – The Seattle Mariners want to see how their top prospects can help at the major league level, and Justin Leone showed them.
The Mariners are hoping to find some home-run punch for a power-deficient lineup, and Leone gave them that, too.
Leone, playing his first home game after being called up a week ago from Class AAA Tacoma, hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning Thursday, giving the Mariners a 2-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Safeco Field.
“That’s the kind of thing we’re looking to see,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s got some power and we’ve been struggling with the power mode this year. It shows the effect of the home run, especially late in the game like that.”
While wins and losses don’t mean quite what the used to for the Mariners, they needed this one. It ended a nine-game losing streak that went back to July 1.
“We forgot what it’s like to go out there and shake hands at the end of the game,” Melvin said.
Without Leone, they still might not have gotten that chance.
The Mariners trailed 1-0 after the Indians’ Jody Gerut hit a sinker from Joel Pineiro over the right-center field fence in the second inning.
Except for that pitch, Pineiro mastered the Indians. He allowed four hits and two walks, but seemed on his way to another hard-luck loss.
Indians starter Jake Westbrook was doing the same to the Mariners, having nursed his one-run lead by limited the Mariners to Scott Spiezio’s second-inning double, Willie Bloomquist’s third-inning infield single and Ichiro Suzuki’s sixth-inning single.
“We’re all sitting there in the fifth or sixth inning wondering what it’s going to take to get this guy (Pineiro) a win,” Melvin said.
Two outs into the bottom of the seventh, Leone supplied the answer.
Westbrook hit Miguel Olivo, then threw a first-pitch fastball that Leone crushed into the second deck near the left-field foul pole.
“It didn’t matter to me how far it went, just as long as it went over the fence,” said Leone, who hit 21 homers and drove in 51 runs at Tacoma this year.
Pineiro pitched a perfect eighth inning and pushed his record to 5-10 after closer Eddie Guardado recorded his 16th save.
Leone’s first major league homer left him with a .333 average after his seventh game. It was as important for him as it was for the Mariners, who plan to ride their young players the rest of this season and see how they fit into the club’s future.
“I had no idea I’d get called up as soon as I did and what kind of opportunity I would get,” Leone said. “We’ll just see how it goes. If I produce, I’m sure I’ll stick around.”
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