Cleveland, OH (Sports Network) - Cliff Lee threw six-plus innings to earn his fifth win without a loss this season, as the Indians beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-3, in the middle contest of a three-game series.
Lee (5-0) actually saw his season ERA rise from 0.28 to 0.96, still best in the majors, by allowing eight hits and three runs. The lefty struck out three without allowing a walk and improved to 6-1 lifetime versus the Mariners. He had a 27 inning scoreless streak snapped on Wladimir Balentien's three-run homer.
Lee is the first Cleveland pitcher to win his first five starts since Greg Swindell captured his opening six in 1988.
Franklin Gutierrez knocked in three runs and Grady Sizemore homered for the Indians, who snapped a three-game skid, but won for the sixth time in nine games.
Balentien, who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma earlier in the day, had two hits in his regular season debut with the Mariners.
Jarrod Washburn (1-4) was charged with six hits and six runs -- five earned -- in 4 1/3 innings to suffer the defeat, as the Mariners lost for the fifth time in seven games. Washburn also walked two and struck out seven.
Sizemore led off the bottom of the first with a homer to right field, and it only got worse for Washburn, as Jamey Carroll and Victor Martinez singled to put runners at the corners. Ryan Garko then lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
The Indians added a run in the fourth, helped by an error from third baseman Adrian Beltre. Garko walked, and Casey Blake then hit a ball to Beltre, but he threw it into right field trying to start a double play. Gutierrez then singled to left for a 3-0 lead. Blake was then thrown out at home by center field Ichiro Suzuki on Kelly Shoppach's base hit.
Cleveland padded its lead to 8-0 in the fifth. Sizemore walked and came home on a Martinez one-out double to left. Garko was hit by a pitch and Cha Seung Baek relieved Washburn, but was rudely greeted with an RBI double from Blake. Gutierrez followed with a two-run single to center, and after a Shoppach double, Jason Michaels accounted for the eighth run with a sacrifice fly.
Jose Vidro legged out an infield hit to start the Seattle seventh, and Richie Sexson singled before Balentien homered to right. The Indians then relieved Lee with Jensen Lewis, who threw two frames before Jorge Julio finished by allowing a hit in the ninth.
Game Notes . The 27-inning scoreless streak is the longest by an Indians pitcher since John Denny went 34 2/3 frames in 1981..This is the third time this season Lee has stopped a Cleveland three-game skid..Martinez has a 12-game hitting streak and has a .366 batting average..Sizemore has 12 career lead-off homers, second-most in Indians history, behind Kenny Lofton's 18..Jose Lopez has a 10-game hitting streak..Before the game, the Mariners also designated infielder Greg Norton and outfielder Brad Wilkerson for assignment, and recalled catcher Jeff Clement from Tacoma.