Belliard's running grab preserves win in 9th

SEATTLE (AP) -- Ben Broussard got the big hits for the Cleveland Indians. They held on thanks to a clutch catch by All-Star second baseman Ronnie Belliard.

Broussard hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and drove in three runs, sending C.C. Sabathia and the Indians to a 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.

"That's pretty much what everybody goes home and dreams about," said Broussard, whose two-run double in the eighth gave Cleveland a 6-3 lead. "You get that opportunity to help your team and it's a pressure situation. You just want to come through."

Belliard made a running catch of Miguel Olivo's broken-bat blooper with the bases loaded in the ninth, preserving the victory. He plays a deep second base, but he wasn't playing as deep as usual because the Mariners had the bases loaded.

"You never know what's going to happen," Belliard said. "I like to play deep, but not in those situations."

Olivo thought he had a hit.

"To me, it was like 100 percent that ball was a base hit," Olivo said. "I feel a bit unlucky right now that the guy could make that play."

Mariners manager Bob Melvin felt snakebit after his team's 56th loss.

"Belliard is the one second baseman in the league that plays eight feet out on the grass," he said. "It's amazing. We can't catch a break."

The last-place Mariners lost for the 11th time in 12 games despite Bucky Jacobsen's first major league home run and three RBI. Seattle dropped 23 games below .500 for the first time since it finished 68-93 in 1988 under Dick Williams and Jim Snyder.

Trailing 6-3, the Mariners made it close with two runs off Bob Wickman in the eighth. Olivo hit an RBI triple, his first hit in three games since coming to Seattle from the Chicago White Sox in the Freddy Garcia trade on June 27.

Olivo scored on an infield single by speedy Ichiro Suzuki, who beat the 240-pound Wickman to first base.

Pitching four days before his 24th birthday, Sabathia (6-4) allowed three runs, six hits and a season-high five walks in six innings. The two-time All-Star struck out six, winning for the fourth time in five decisions.

The Indians, who tied a team record with eight homers in an 18-6 rout Friday night, fought back from a 3-0 deficit in this one.

Travis Hafner hit his 12th homer of the season off Ryan Franklin (3-8) with two outs in the sixth.

In the seventh, Casey Blake doubled, went to third on a passed ball by Olivo and scored on Jody Gerut's double. Belliard's broken-bat single to center scored Gerut and chased Franklin.

George Sherrill balked Belliard to second, and he scored on Broussard's single to put Cleveland ahead 4-3.

Broussard added a two-run double off Sherrill in the eighth to make it 6-3. The runs were unearned because of third baseman Justin Leone's throwing error on Gerut's two-out grounder.

David Riske struck out his first two batters in the ninth, then loaded the bases before retiring Olivo for his fifth save.

Indians manager Eric Wedge and shortstop Omar Vizquel were long gone by then. Wedge received his third ejection of the season in the sixth after plate umpire Jeff Nelson tossed Vizquel for arguing after he was called out on strikes. It was Vizquel's first ejection this year.

Franklin lost his fourth straight decision. In six innings, he gave up four runs on six hits and a balk.

Jacobsen, 28, had been a career minor leaguer before he was called up Thursday, when the Mariners designated veteran first baseman John Olerud for assignment.

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound first baseman hit a two-run homer into the back of the Mariners' bullpen in left field in the second inning -- his first at-bat against the 6-7, 300-pound Sabathia. It came after Sabathia walked Edgar Martinez leading off the inning.

The enthusiastic crowd, which hasn't had much to cheer about in Seattle this season, chanted "Bucky! Bucky!" when he walked on four pitches from Sabathia with the bases loaded in the fifth for his third RBI, making it 3-0.

Game notes
The Mariners stole five bases in five attempts, two by Randy Winn, against All-Star catcher Victor Martinez, who had three homers and seven RBI on Friday night. ... Seattle stranded 13 runners.