 was dominant early, but couldn't get out of the seventh after a single by Omar Narvaez and a two-out walk to Dee Gordon. Bauer finished his night with eight strikeouts on 112 pitches and watched the seventh get dicey after Tyler Olson walked Mallex Smith on four pitches to load the bases for Mitch Haniger.Cimber, who went to high school in nearby Puyallup and played college ball at Washington, entered and went to 3-2 on Haniger. After three foul balls, Cimber got Haniger swinging over a sinker and Cleveland escaped the jam.The strikeout proved huge when Seattle rallied with three runs in the eighth on consecutive homers by Edwin Encarnacion and Narvaez to extend the Mariners' record streak to 19 games with a long ball to begin the season. Both homers came off reliever Oliver Perez and they cut the Indians' lead to 5-4. Ryon Healy nearly kept the rally going but Greg Allen made a tremendous diving catch in deep right-center field to end the eighth.Seattle gave away several critical runs in losing its fourth straight. Cleveland scored twice in the eighth as three relievers combined for four walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches. Mariners shortstop Tim Beckham committed a pair of two-out errors in the ninth, the second allowing Carlos Gonzalez to score on Carlos Santana's single.Brad Hand closed for his fifth save.Kikuchi (0-1) continued to struggle in the early innings. Cleveland scored twice in the first on two-out RBI singles by Hanley Ramirez and Jason Kipnis in his first game off the injured list. The Indians added another in third on Jose Ramirez's long ball. He entered the night hitting .140 with just two RBIs.Kikuchi settled down and pitched six innings, striking out five and walking three. In his five starts, the Japanese rookie has allowed nine of 12 runs in the first two innings.TRAINER'S ROOMIndians: Francisco Lindor was sent to Triple-A Columbus to begin a rehab assignment as the All-Star shortstop is moving closer to rejoining the big league club after being slowed by a left ankle injury. He's expected to play in his first game on Tuesday.Mariners: Seattle has decided on RHP Erik Swanson as its starter for Wednesday against Cleveland, taking the spot in the rotation held by Wade LeBlanc before he landed on the injured list. Swanson made one start in the minors this season and had one appearance out of the bullpen for Seattle. LeBlanc is expected to miss at least a month with a strained oblique.UP NEXTIndians: Shane Bieber (1-0) threw seven shutout innings in his last start against Detroit, earning his first victory of the season. It will be his first career start against Seattle.Mariners: Mike Leake (2-0) makes his fourth start. Leake has allowed two earned runs in two of his three starts this season, but gave up four runs over five innings in his last start vs. Kansas City.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Freshly swept Mariners look to right ship vs. Indians Perhaps the Seattle Mariners aren't quite ready for prime time.The Mariners entered their weekend series against the two-time defending American League West champion Houston Astros with a 13-2 record, six consecutive victories and a four-game lead in the division.After three straight Houston victories, the Mariners are 13-5, and their lead is down to one game in the AL West as they welcome the Cleveland Indians to town for a three-game series that starts Monday night.After a 10-6 loss Friday, the Mariners suffered 3-1 and 3-2 defeats over the weekend. Seattle had scored six or more runs in 14 of its first 16 games before running into Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole the past two days.The Mariners struck out a total of 28 times over the weekend, with Verlander and Cole each fanning 11 in their starts."They threw the ball against us very well all weekend," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "They've been good ballgames. They've been tight, and we've done a pretty good job defensively, we've made the plays. But you have to credit their pitching. They shut us down." Servais didn't seem too concerned about the lack of contact."The strikeouts, they're going to happen once in a while," Servais said "They happen when you take deep counts. We're OK with that. I said from the beginning of spring training, I'm fine with that. We'll keep grinding away. Not every club on every weekend is going to make those pitches." The Mariners' Mitch Haniger led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run, marking the 18th consecutive game to start the season in which Seattle has homered, extending a major league record. The Mariners broke the record of 14 games set by the 2002 Indians.The Indians are in a similar circumstance to the Mariners. They were 8-4 heading into a three-game series in Kansas City before being swept over the weekend. Those are the same Royals who lost four in a row at home to the Mariners last week.Cleveland's biggest problem has been its starting rotation.Mike Clevinger suffered an upper-back strain on Tuesday and is out six to eight weeks, and Carlos Carrasco lasted just two-thirds of an inning on Friday. On Sunday, ace Corey Kluber went 2 2/ 3 innings in a 9-8 loss, as the Royals walked off in the ninth.That snapped the Indians' streak of 45 consecutive series without being swept.Kluber allowed six runs on six hits and walked a career-high five batters."First inning, thought he was good," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "And then he started getting under some pitches. I know he knew it. He just was having a hard time self-correcting." Right-hander Trevor Bauer (1-1, 2.29 ERA), a relative bright spot in the rotation, is scheduled to face rookie Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-0, 4.15) in the series opener.Bauer is 1-4 with a 4.60 ERA in eight career appearances against Seattle, including seven starts, though he faced the Mariners just once last year.Kikuchi will face the Indians for the first time. He has two starts this season with six-plus innings while allowing three or fewer runs, but has yet to get a decision.-- Field Level Media
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