Garcia’s Homer Beats Mariners

The Cleveland Indians are starting to make game-winning home runs look routine.

And they’re doing it at the expense of the Seattle Mariners’ postseason chances.

Karim Garcia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday, giving the Indians a 5-3 victory over the Mariners.

The homer came 16 hours after rookie catcher Josh Bard capped his major league debut with a two-run homer that lifted the Indians over Seattle, 4-2, on Friday night.

Bard also homered in his first at-bat Saturday.

The Mariners have lost six of nine and fell two games behind the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics.

“This is not a time to panic. This is just a little bump for us. These things happen,” Mariner second baseman Bret Boone said. “We have to come out and beat somebody up.”

Garcia was given the bunt sign after Matt Lawton walked to start the ninth against Doug Creek (2-2). Garcia missed the bunt attempt.

“Karim’s not a guy who has bunted a lot in his career, so we took him off that,” Manager Joel Skinner said.

Garcia hit the next pitch, an inside fastball, to right field for his fifth homer.

Garcia and Bard are among 20 players the Indians have called up from triple-A Buffalo. Bard is among eight players to make their major league debut this season with the Indians.

The Mariners threatened in the ninth, but Lawton threw out Jeff Cirillo, who tried to score from second base on Dan Wilson’s single to left field.

Starter Danys Baez held Seattle hitless for 5 2/3 innings, then fell apart, giving up four consecutive hits, including a two-run homer to Mike Cameron.

Baez got out of the inning with help from second baseman John McDonald, who dived into short right field to grab a hard-hit grounder and throw out Mark McLemore.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the third as Bard picked up where he left off Friday night.

The catcher hit a 406-foot drive into the left-field bleachers after Jamie Moyer had retired the first seven batters.

New York 3, Texas 2--Jason Giambi’s tiebreaking homer in the bottom of the seventh inning helped Roger Clemens earn his 291st career victory.

Clemens (11-4) gave up Alex Rodriguez’s major league-leading 45th home run in the first inning, then held the Rangers in check through the seventh. Clemens struck out nine.

Minnesota 6, Kansas City 5--Denny Hocking hit three doubles and Cristian Guzman extended his hitting streak to 22 games to help lift the Twins at Kansas City, Mo.

Guzman has the longest current string in the majors and the longest for the Twins since Marty Cordova’s 23-game streak in 1996. Guzman doubled and singled. He is batting .366 (34 for 93) during the streak.

Toronto 4-8, Baltimore 1-3--Chris Woodward and Vernon Wells homered to back a solid pitching performance by Esteban Loaiza, and the Blue Jays completed a doubleheader sweep at Baltimore.

In the first game, Pete Walker (7-3) gave up four hits in seven innings to end Baltimore’s four-game winning streak.

Chicago 5, Tampa Bay 2--Frank Thomas, Carlos Lee and Joe Crede homered at Chicago.

Dan Wright (9-11) matched his career high with eight strikeouts and overcame a couple of rough spots to win for the second time in his last five starts.