Laffey leads Tribe in laugher

CLEVELAND Indians Indians 9 Mariners 0 Today What: Indians at Mariners. When: 4:10 p.m. Where: Safeco Field, Seattle. TV/radio: No TV; WTAM AM/1100 Pitchers: LHP Jeremy Sowers (2-7, 5.77 ERA) vs. LHP Erik Bedard (5-2, 2.70). Seattle - Maybe the air really is different once you leave the cellar. The Indians , a day removed from extracting themselves from last place in the AL Central for just the fourth time this season, pounded a hot Seattle club, 9-0, Friday night behind Aaron Laffey's pitching and home runs by Travis Hafner, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko and Jamey Carroll. Laffey and the long ball haven't done the Indians a whole lot of good since the All-Star break. They made up for it on a cool night at Safeco Field. In facing Seattle for the second time since the break, Laffey retired the last 13 men he faced. Starting with Ryan Langerhans' ground out to end the first inning, he faced the minimum number of hitters over his last 6 1/3 innings. Hafner and Francisco stretched the Tribe's 1-0 lead to 4-0 in the seventh. After Jhonny Peralta started the inning with a single, Hafner crushed Ryan Rowland-Smith's first pitch into the center-field bleachers. It was his 10th homer and first since July 3. Francisco followed with a two-out drive down the left-field line. It was Francisco's eighth homer and first since July 19, when he homered against the Mariners at Progressive Field. The Indians , until the seventh, had hit two homers since the break. They doubled up again in the ninth against Miguel Batista. Garko hit a three-run drive over the left-field scoreboard and Carroll followed with one in almost the exact spot as the Indians put together a five-run inning. Garko has 10 homers for the year and Carroll one. Laffey (4-2, 3.71) looked like the left-hander who won two of his first three starts in April before the Indians put him in the bullpen because no one else could get an out. Laffey pitched well in relief until straining his right oblique muscle May 22 against Cincinnati. A lengthy rehab assignment followed and Laffey didn't rejoin the rotation until July 8. Laffey had his sinker working Friday. He induced double-play grounders in the first three innings to give him 15 for the season. Francisco gave Laffey a 1-0 lead in the second with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. Laffey, who struck out a career-high seven batters, fanned four of the last seven Mariners he faced. Laffey was done after seven scoreless innings and a season-high 106 pitches. He allowed three hits and three walks. Manager Eric Wedge went to his new set-up platoon for the eighth. Following Thursday's trade of Rafael Betancourt to Colorado, Wedge will use the righty-lefty combo of Joe Smith and Tony Sipp in the eighth inning. Smith started the inning and retired two of the first three hitters. Jack Hannahan, a left-hander, singled. Sipp arrived to face dangerous Ichiro Suzuki. He retired Seattle's right fielder on a drive to the warning track on a 3-2 pitch. The Indians moved out of last place in the Central following Thursday's 5-4 victory over Toronto. They passed Kansas City by mere percentage points, but at least they were moving in the right direction. Friday's victory, coupled with Kansas City's loss to Texas, kept them moving forward. Rowland-Smith (0-1, 3.48), the only player in MLB history with a hyphenated last name, allowed four runs on five hits in seven innings. He was making only his second big-league start of the season. Laffey induced double-play grounders in the first, second and third innings to get out of potential trouble. After Suzuki opened the game with a single, Russell Branyan, with the defense shifted to the right, hit into a 3-5-1 double play. Garko grabbed the grounder at first and threw to Peralta, who had shifted from third to short, for the force. Peralta threw back to first where Laffey was covering to complete the double play. After Kenji Johjima's leadoff single in the second, Ronny Cedeno grounded into a double play to end the inning. In the third, Jose Lopez hit into an inning-ending double play. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158