SEATTLE (AP) — Mitch Haniger hit his 12th home run, Justus Sheffield picked up a win against the team that drafted him and the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians 7-3 on Saturday night.
Dylan Moore added a three-run homer in the fourth inning off Triston McKenzie to break open a close game and give Sheffield (3-3) the win in a showdown of former Indians first-round draft picks.
“There were a lot of familiar faces over there,” Sheffield said. “I still have a lot of good buddies over there. Triston and I go way back.”
Sheffield, a 25-year-old left-hander, was taken in the first round by the Indians in 2014, and McKenzie was drafted the next year. Cleveland traded Sheffield to the New York Yankees in 2016 in a deal for Andrew Miller.
Sheffield worked out of jams in the second, fourth and sixth innings — helping turn a double play in the second — and overcame three doubles by José Ramírez. He struck out two, walked two and scattered five hits in six innings.
“I think early on he made a couple of mistakes and we didn't make him pay for it,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said.
The Mariners have won two straight after a string of five losses.
Haniger, a former All-Star who missed most of the last two years with injuries, hit a solo shot in the first inning to join Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. for the major league lead with his 12th homer. He added a single and a run in the fifth inning to make it 5-0, helping chase McKenzie (1-2).
The 438-foot shot was the longest of his career at T-Mobile Park.
“I don't really care if it's a foot over or 100 feet over,” Haniger said, but acknowledged he has returned from the injured list with an improved swing. “I feel like I’m moving better and I feel like if you’re moving better, and you have more more body awareness and body control, you’re going to be able to make adjustments faster and you’re able to get more out of your swing.”
Reliever Drew Steckenrider pitched a perfect seventh with two strikeouts to extend his streak to 13 1/3 innings with just one earned run allowed. Donovan Walton added a two-run triple in the eighth for the Mariners.
Harold Ramirez hit a solo homer for the Indians in the ninth.
TOUGH NIGHT
A day after hitting a home run and two doubles, prized Mariners prospect Jarred Kelenic went 0 for 5 and struck out three times in his third major league game. The 21-year-old rookie spiked his helmet and glared at the plate umpire after his third strikeout, which came on three pitches, including two called strikes.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Indians: LF Eddie Rosario returned to the lineup after taking a pitch to the foot in Friday night’s loss to the Mariners. He was pulled in the ninth for a pinch-runner, but Francona said he suffered no serious damage.
Mariners: INF/DH Ty France (wrist) will wear a splint up to five days and is taking anti-inflammatory drugs while on the 10-day injured list, manager Scott Servais said. France took a pitch to the forearm on April 28, and that may have eventually caused the soreness in the wrist, Servais said.
UP NEXT
Indians: RHP Shane Bieber (4-2, 2.95) closes out the series for Cleveland. He’s given up two earned runs in 13 2/3 career innings against the Mariners and looks to extend his strikeout streak of at least eight in a record 20 straight games.
Mariners: RHP Robert Dugger (0-0, 2.25) will serve as the opener in a bullpen start in the series finale. The reliever has appeared in four games this season with a high of three innings pitched.
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