The Indians match their season high with their sixth straight win and do so in bizarre fashion, as Kenny Lofton’s walk-off walk sends Cleveland to a 6-5 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The Tribe scored three early in the second as Jason Michaels knocked in two on a single and Chris Gomez followed with a single to right to make it a 3-0 Cleveland lead. The Mariners cut into it with two in the sixth and took the lead with two more in the seventh as Adam Jones drove in two of the runs, the first coming on a solo homer off of starter Aaron Laffey to lead off the sixth and the latter on a one-out single in the seventh. The lead swung back in favor of the Indians as they scored two in the bottom of the frame on back-to-back RBI hits from Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko.
With two in scoring position and one out in the ninth, Joe Borowski gave up a groundout to tie the game. Cleveland won it in the bottom of the inning with a one-out single from Martinez, a hit by pitch from Garko, a walk from Franklin Gutierrez with two outs to load the bases, and Lofton’s walk against reliever Rick White to end it.
The Indians improved to 76-57 with the win, maintaining a four and a half game lead over Detroit for first place in the AL Central. They will win a season-high eight games during their winning streak.
The walk-off comes exactly one year to the date that Jhonny Peralta hit a two-out walk-off homer in the tenth inning to give the Indians a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Toronto Blue Jays.