By DAIMON EKLUND , Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — Dee Gordon and Mitch Haniger homered, Mike Leake pitched seven strong innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 on Sunday.
Edwin Encarnacion went deep twice for the Indians, his 29th career multihomer game. Gordon and Haniger connected in the seventh, when the Mariners broke a 2-all tie on the way to winning the series.
Leake (1-0) gave up two runs and five hits. He has allowed three runs or fewer in all six starts since joining the Mariners late last season.
Gordon led off the seventh with a tiebreaking shot to right field off Dan Otero (0-1). Gordon clearly knew he’d hit it well — after making contact he watched the ball and walked out of the batter’s box.A few batters later, Haniger added a two-run drive off reliever Tyler Olson to give Seattle a 5-2 lead.
They were the first runs Olson has allowed with Cleveland — last year he threw 20 scoreless innings in 30 appearances for the Indians.
Encarnacion cut the lead to one with his second homer in the eighth, a two-run shot.
Edwin Diaz struck out all three batters in the ninth for his second save.
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer allowed two runs and five hits in five innings, striking out seven and walking three.
Cleveland opened the scoring with Bradley Zimmer’s RBI single in the second. The Indians took a 2-0 lead on Encarnacion’s leadoff homer in the fourth, which hit the hand-operated scoreboard in left field.
Bauer got out of a two-out jam in the third. He gave up a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases before striking out Kyle Seager.
The Mariners tied the game in the fifth on run-scoring doubles by Jean Segura and Seager. It was Seager’s first hit of the season after starting 0 for 8.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: Nelson Cruz twisted his right ankle Saturday slipping on the dugout steps after a home run. Cruz had an MRI on Sunday morning. “We’ll have to wait and see what the results are,” manager Scott Servais said. “If it’s going to be longer than three or four days, we’ll have to make a roster decision. Right now we’ll keep our fingers crossed he’ll bounce back.” … OF Ben Gamel, on the disabled list with a strained right oblique, will join Triple-A Tacoma for some simulated games this week and begin a rehab assignment with Tacoma when the team’s season starts Thursday. … RHP Erasmo Ramirez is expected to throw in a simulated game with Tacoma as he recovers from a strained lat muscle, and C Mike Zunino (left oblique strain) might also play in a simulated game this week.
UP NEXT
Indians: Cleveland starts a three-game series at the Los Angeles Angels on Monday. RHP Mike Clevinger will make his first start of the season. Clevinger is 2-0 with a 3.94 ERA in four career starts against the Angels.
Mariners: LHP Marco Gonzales opens a two-game series at San Francisco on Tuesday.
