CLEVELAND – Travis Hafner came off the disabled list to hit a grand slam as the Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners 9-1 on Sunday.
Hafner connected off Seattle ace Felix Hernandez (8-10) after a two-out error by second baseman Chone Figgins opened the door for Cleveland's seven-run seventh inning.
Tony Sipp (2-2) worked a perfect seventh after Justin Masterson allowed one hit over six scoreless innings for Cleveland, which is just 4-11 at home since July 24.
Mariners interim manager Daren Brown dropped to 4-2 since being promoted from managing Triple-A Tacoma to replace the fired Dan Wakamatsu on Monday.
Hernandez was sailing until Luis Valbuena reached when Figgins bobbled his grounder, then threw high to first baseman Casey Kotchman. Replays showed Kotchman kept his foot on the bag, but first-base umpire Todd Tichenor ruled otherwise. Brown went out to argue briefly.
Lou Marson then bounced a single between first and second. Valbuena, running on the 3-2 pitch, went to third. He scored the game's first run on Michael Brantley's line drive to center.
Asdrubal Cabrera singled home Marson and with runners on second and third, and Hernandez intentionally walked Shin-Soo Choo to load the bases.
Hafner, who had been sidelined with a tired right shoulder, drove a 2-1 pitch over the wall in center for his second slam of the season and the 11th of his career. Hafner was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts until then in his first action since July 29.
Jayson Nix made it 7-0 by hitting his ninth homer, off reliever Sean White.
Hernandez was coming off a 2-0 win over Oakland on Tuesday in which he struck out a career-high 13 and yielded five hits over eight innings. Seattle had been shut out in his previous two outings and has totaled five runs in his last six starts in which the right-hander is 1-4.
Masterson matched King Felix in putting up zeroes despite walking six. He got great defensive help from first baseman Matt LaPorta.
Through four innings, the only baserunners came on three walks by each right-hander. Kotchman got the first hit, a line-drive double over the head of Brantley to open the fifth.
Masterson walked Adam Moore and after Michael Saunders bunted into a forceout at third, also walked light-hitting Chris Woodward to load the bases.
LaPorta then bailed out his pitcher with two fine plays. He made a diving catch of a line drive by Ichiro Suzuki that was headed for the right-field corner. He then fielded a bunt by Figgins and tagged the speedy runner as he sped past.
Marson broke an 0-for-14 slump with a two-out double in the bottom half for Cleveland's first hit.
Franklin Gutierrez had an RBI single in the Seattle eighth, while Marson singled and scored on Brantley's third homer to make it 9-1 in the bottom half.
NOTES: Choo got his 10th assist, tying Toronto's Jose Bautista for the major league lead among outfielders. Choo threw to first base after catching a fly ball to double off Russell Branyan. Cleveland outfielders have 25 assists overall. ... Cleveland optioned rookie OF Jordan Brown to Triple-A Columbus when Hafner was activated. Brown was called up July 31 and hit .226 with one RBI in his first nine career games. ... LaPorta went 0 for 4 and is in an 0 for 20 slump. ... Seattle has lost 13 of its last 18 road games and not won three in a row away from Safeco Field since April 27-28 at Kansas City and May 11 at Baltimore.
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