Jacobsen keys M’s victory
SEATTLE — Bucky Jacobsen has wasted no time in making his massive presence felt after toiling in the minors for eight years.
The 28-year-old rookie homered for the second straight game, and Randy Winn had a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning to give the Seattle Mariners a 7-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday.
Jacobsen, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound designated hitter, went 2 for 2 with two RBIs Sunday and is 5 for 8 with two homers and five RBIs since being called up from Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday.
And he’s quickly becoming a fan favorite.
“We definitely didn’t have a figure like him,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. “He is Bunyanesque. He’s Casey at the bat. He’s definitely got the fans of Seattle behind him. For him to be as successful as he has adds to that.”
Seattle entered the eighth with a 5-4 lead, but Victor Martinez tied it with his first pinch-hit home run — off Shigetoshi Hasegawa (3-3) — and 16th of the season.
In the bottom half, Dan Wilson singled off Matt Miller (2-1) with one out. Pinch-runner Miguel Olivo advanced on a grounder, then Ichiro Suzuki was intentionally walked.
Bob Howry relieved, and both runners advanced when Martinez couldn’t handle Howry’s first pitch for a passed ball.
Winn then drove a ball to the base of the left-field wall, scoring Olivo and Suzuki.
“I just wanted to get a good swing on it,” Winn said. “I thought it was going to be caught when I hit it, but it carried far enough.
“There’s always a better feeling at the stadium when you’re winning.”
Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 17th save in 22 opportunities.
“It was an exciting win,” said Guardado, “and it will give us a big boost. It was awesome.”
For the second straight game, the Mariners wasted an early 3-0 lead.
Jacobsen hit a two-out, 425-foot homer to center off Cleveland starter Scott Elarton in the third to give Seattle a 3-0 lead, two pitches after Elarton threw near Jacobsen’s head.
“I guess there’s nothing better than a guy throwing behind you and then you end up trotting around the bases,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen had an RBI single in Seattle’s two-run first inning. The hit followed consecutive doubles by Bret Boone and Raul Ibanez. Jacobsen was also hit by a pitch from Rick White.
White and Cleveland manager Eric Wedge were ejected because both teams were warned in the sixth inning after Seattle starter Jamie Moyer hit Jody Gerut.
White wasn’t happy about the ejection, and was told by umpire Marty Foster that he had no choice but to toss him from the game because of so many guys being hit by pitches during the series.
Eight batters were hit during the four-game series — six Indians and two Mariners.
“The league is trying to control this,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said.
“They put a lot of heat on the umpires, and a lot of times the umpires get put in a tough spot. Ultimately, it affects the baseball game and that shouldn’t happen. Nothing should ever get in the way of the players playing the game.”
Lou Merloni drove in four runs for Cleveland. He doubled home two runs off Jamie Moyer in the fourth to pull Cleveland to 4-2, hit his third homer in the sixth and made it 5-4 with a RBI single off J.J. Putz in the seventh.
Moyer pitched five-plus innings and allowed eight hits and three runs.
Elarton allowed eight hits, five runs — four earned — over 4 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Seattle opened a 5-2 lead in the fifth as Ibanez scored when Justin Leone’s popup into shallow right went off the glove of second baseman Ronnie Belliard for an error.