Mariners Take Away Indians’ Work of Art

Cleveland ace Bartolo Colon was busy replicating his Game 1 performance late Sunday afternoon at Jacobs Field as if he were taking a Van Gogh to the print shop to make a copy.

But somewhere in the seventh inning of Game 4 the machine got jammed, and Colon’s invincibility was shattered.

Seattle, with Ichiro Suzuki providing a pivotal seventh-inning RBI single, took full advantage, escaping with a 6-2 victory over the Indians to send the series back to Safeco Field today for the final game of the best-of-five series.

“We took it to the max today and finally broke it open,” Mike Cameron said. “It’s fun to play in those games--every out, every pitch, every swing could make a difference, especially when it’s 1-0.”

Stymied on only three hits and trailing, 1-0, entering the seventh, the Mariners broke through with three runs to knock Colon off his perch and extend the series.

Seattle’s Jamie Moyer, hoping to duplicate his Game 2 win, will be matched today against Cleveland starter Chuck Finley in Game 5.

“We are not going to tense up,” Seattle Manager Lou Piniella said. “We are not going to lose because of the pressure. If we lose, it’s because the other team just outplayed us, and that’s been our philosophy all year.”

Colon pitched eight shutout innings to lead the Indians to their Game 1 victory, and he took a 1-0 lead into the seventh before walking John Olerud to start the inning. Stan Javier lunged at an outside pitch from Colon, letting the bat fly out of his hand on contact and watching the ball slice into left field, putting two on with no out.

Colon tried to pick Olerud off second before his first pitch to Cameron, but his throw went to the left of the bag and into center, sending Olerud to third. Cameron eventually walked to load the bases. Then Colon induced pinch-hitter Al Martin to ground into a force play at the plate.

David Bell followed with a fly ball down the left-field line that Marty Cordova caught on the run in foul territory, allowing Javier to tag at third and score the tying run. The ball was so close to fair territory that Cordova chose to catch it, rather than risk that it would land fair and clear the bases.

The run snapped Colon’s streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings, a record for an individual division series. David Wells holds the all-time record with 15 consecutive scoreless innings for the New York Yankees, but he did it over two years in 1997 and ’98.

Suzuki, who had three hits and is batting .563 (nine for 16) in the series, grounded a single between first and second to bring Cameron home with the go-ahead run. Mark McLemore followed with an RBI single, making it 3-1.

“We had six real good innings,” Cleveland Manager Charlie Manuel said. “And all of a sudden things started happening to us, and we ended up getting beat.”

Though the day started with an incessant downpour, delaying the game by almost 21/2 hours, the sun finally burst through in the bottom of the seventh. Juan Gonzalez, who had homered off Freddy Garcia in the second, lifted a fly to deep center, which Cameron in the sun, allowing it to drop for a double.

“I was saying, ‘Aw, man, I know this is not happening right now,”’ Cameron said.

Jim Thome’s groundout advanced Gonzalez to third, before Piniella called on Jeff Nelson to face designated hitter Ellis Burks.

Though Burks checked his swing on a two-strike pitch that eluded catcher Tom Lampkin, he began to run to first when he saw it roll toward the backstop, Gonzalez holding at third on the passed ball. First base umpire Ed Rapuano ruled Burks went around and struck out, allowing him to reach base. Piniella argued, to no avail, but Travis Fryman’s grounder allowed Gonzalez to score. Then Seattle broke it open, with Cameron’s RBI double in the eighth and Martinez’s two-run homer in the ninth.