Indians 3, Mariners 2(11)

5/2/2008 12:33 AM

CLEVELAND (AP) -Asdrubal Cabrera got the pitch he wanted and gave the Cleveland Indians a win they nearly threw away.

Cabrera broke an 0-for-14 slump with a two-out, bases-loaded single in the 11th inning to lift Cleveland over the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Thursday night.

``It was like pulling teeth,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ``If we had done a better job earlier, we'd have never been in that situation.''

Cleveland made a key error to blow a 1-0 lead in the ninth, fell behind in the 10th, then rallied to tie it again and finally win in their last at-bat for the third time this year.

Jhonny Peralta started the winning rally with 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 an 0-2 pitch that was way outside. But Cabrera lined an 0-1 fastball to center and was promptly mobbed by teammates.

``I was calm, looking for a pitch over the plate,'' Cabrera said through first-base coach Luis Rivera, who served as interpreter for the 22-year-old switch-hitting infielder from Venezuela. ``I got a good fastball to hit.''

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.

``Walks will kill you,'' said Putz, who had allowed three of them and two runs in one inning in his last outing Saturday. ``My job is to come in and get ahead. I just didn't throw strikes.''

The homer was Sexson's 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.

``Richie had a huge hit, but it was a tough loss,'' Mariners manager John McLaren said. ``J.J. wasn't sharp. He's still working his way back.''

McLaren said he may use Putz in some non-save situations. The right-hander, who had 78 saves over the previous three seasons, came off the disabled list April 22 after being out with a strained muscle in his rib cage.

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.

``I tried to do too much,'' Blake said. ``I have to catch the ball. I felt terrible, but we got a huge win. That's why you call it a team game. They bailed me out.''

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 and made it 1-0.

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.

``It would have been a lot more frustrating if we had lost,'' Byrd said. ``This is one we can build off. Our trademark is playing with a lot of heart, battling back to win. That's what we did.''

In seven innings, Batista gave up one run and four hits, walking three and striking out six.

Notes: Suzuki's 70 outfield assists since 2001 rank only behind Vladimir Guerrero (74) and Carlos Beltran (73). ... Martinez has hit in 13 straight games, going 19-for-53 (.358). ... Alex Rodriguez hit 100 homers in his first 470 games with Seattle. ... Hafner's RBI tied Andre Thornton for the Indians record as a DH at 450.