Indians pound Mariners

CLEVELAND – Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” was playing in the Indians’ clubhouse following most of the team’s 43 home wins last season. It was soft, melodic, unthreatening.

On Tuesday night, Atreyu, a hardcore outfit from Southern California, was the preferred house band – and their new CD with chugging guitar riffs and pounding drums threatened to peel paint.

Heavy music. Heavy hitters.

Jhonny Peralta and Travis Hafner hit consecutive homers in the fifth inning and Victor Martinez had two RBIs to back Cliff Lee as Cleveland won its sixth straight, 9-5 over the Seattle Mariners.

At 6-1, the Indians are off to their best start since opening 11-1 in 2002. It’s also the first time they’ve been in first place in the A.L. Central since April 18, 2002, a season they finished 74-88.

Peralta, Hafner and Martinez, the Nos. 3-5 hitters, went a combined 8 for 10 with two homers, five RBIs and six runs.

“If they keep doing that,” Lee said, “we’re going to keep rolling.”

Peralta’s two-run homer and Hafner’s solo shot off Jarrod Washburn (1-1) gave the Indians a 6-0 lead and provided Lee (1-0) with the cushion he needed.

The left-hander, who improved to 5-0 in six career starts against Seattle, allowed two runs and four hits in six innings. He didn’t have his best stuff, but with the way the Indians are playing, he didn’t need it.

“We’re all confident right now,” said Lee, who retired 14 straight after a leadoff walk in the first. “Everybody is pitching well. Everybody is hitting well. We keep swinging like this, and I don’t see a whole lot changing.”

Jose Lopez hit a two-run homer for the Mariners, who have lost four in a row.

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki went 0 for 4 and is 0 for 17 in his last four games – the first time he has gone that long without a hit since Aug. 2-5, 2005.

Peralta and Hafner connected for two-out homers totaling an estimated 813 feet in the fifth off Washburn, who was tagged for six runs and nine hits in five innings.

Casey Blake doubled leading off, but Washburn retired the next two hitters. However, Peralta, who set a franchise home run record for shortstops last season with 24, hit his first of ‘06 to make it 5-0.

Hafner followed with his fifth homer in 15 at-bats, a laser shot into the budding trees and empty picnic tables in center. Hafner, who hit 33 homers last season, didn’t hit No. 5 of 2005 until May 17.

“I didn’t make any mistakes in the first two innings, but I didn’t throw very well after that,” said Washburn, who won his previous five starts at Jacobs Field. “They are locked in and when you make mistakes to a team that’s locked in, you pay the price.”

Seattle cut it to 6-2 in the sixth on Lopez’s homer, and the Mariners pulled to 6-3 in the seventh on Yuniesky Betancourt’s RBI single.

But the Indians, hitting .324 this season, added three runs in the seventh on Martinez’s RBI single and Ronnie Belliard’s two-out, two-run single. In the eighth, Belliard made a nice backhand stop up the middle and flipped the ball to Peralta to start a double play.

The Mariners hit a couple of line drives off Lee, but didn’t get one to fall for a hit until the fifth when Kenji Johjima doubled with two outs.

The Indians came out swinging – literally – against Washburn, who needed just 10 pitches to get through the first two innings and threw only 22 after three.

But in the fourth, Cleveland’s aggressiveness paid off.

Peralta singled and went to second when left fielder Raul Ibanez misjudged his one-hopper and let it hop over his head for an error.

Hafner ripped Washburn’s first pitch for an RBI single, and Martinez didn’t let Washburn relax by following with a run-scoring double on the first pitch.

“The way we’re hitting,” Lee said, “it’s just a matter of when we’re going to get their guy.”

In Peralta, Hafner and Martinez, the Indians have a middle of the order than can hit with anyone.