Sabathia masterful as Indians shut out M’s

SEATTLE — Nothing could slow C.C. Sabathia – not a pair of hits by Ichiro Suzuki, and surely not an errant foul ball that hit him in the face.

Sabathia threw a five-hitter for his second career shutout and Omar Vizquel hit a two-run homer to lead the Cleveland Indians over the Seattle Mariners 5-0 Monday night.

“That’s about as good as I’ve seen him – ever,” Seattle manager Bob Melvin said. “He was throwing the changeup a lot harder with more movement tonight. He threw in some backdoor sliders; really some harder breaking ball sliders.

“Then I saw him hit 97 (mph) a couple of times. It was tough.”

Travis Hafner and Casey Blake hit solo shots to help Cleveland to an early 4-0 lead and Matt Lawton added a ninth-inning homer as the Indians snapped a five-game losing streak and handed the Mariners their sixth straight loss.

Ichiro went 2 for 4, getting singles in the third and ninth innings to push his season hits total to 226 – 31 short of George Sisler’s 1920 major league record of 257 hits. Suzuki has 25 games remaining.

“When power pitchers can throw strikes and they get runs, it’s going to be tough to come back,” Ichiro said through a translator.

Sabathia (11-9) looked strong all night, showing no side effects after being hit in the face by a foul ball while he sat in the dugout in the second inning.

“Everything was getting over today,” Sabathia said. “I threw a couple of changeups for strikes. My breaking ball was working real good.”

He struck out eight, and walked one. It was Sabathia’s fifth complete game.

“It was 96 (pitches) going into that last inning,” Sabathia said. “I felt like I could throw all day when I’m out there.”

Seattle starter Gil Meche (4-6) pitched seven innings, collecting eight strikeouts but giving up three homers. He allowed four runs on four hits with no walks.

“Give C.C. a four-run lead, and it looked like he had tremendous stuff,” Meche said. “You’ve got to tip your hat to him. He really pitched well.”

Hafner put Cleveland up 1-0 with a one-out shot to center in the second, and Blake followed with another to make it 2-0. It was the fifth time this season the Indians have hit back-to-back homers.

The next batter, Ben Broussard, hit a high pop foul into the Cleveland dugout. It bounced erratically on the steps and appeared to smack Sabathia in the face.

It didn’t affect his pitching. The hard-throwing lefty kept his count down – throwing 54 pitches through five innings, 117 total. He didn’t throw ball three to any batter until the seventh.

“That’s what he has to do,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “He was in command of his delivery. I never saw him get out of his rhythm.”