CLEVELAND — A makeup game against the Mariners lasted only seven innings at Progressive Field on Monday, and that was six too many as far as the Indians were concerned.
A somewhat substantial advantage after their first at-bat meant little in the end to the Indians, who dropped a 12-6 decision in a game that was played under constant rainfall and called after a brief delay prior to the start of the eighth inning.
Cleveland led 3-0 after the opening inning, but the advantage was erased and then some by a nine-run third from the Mariners, who sent the Indians to their fifth straight loss at home.
“It was an ugly day and a disappointing loss,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, whose second-place club leads the third-place White Sox by a 1 1/2 games in the Central Division standings.
It didn’t begin that way.
Consecutive home runs from Asdrubal Cabrera (two-run shot) and Carlos Santana off Seattle starter Charlie Furbush staked the Indians to the early lead, but after allowing two runs in the second, Cleveland starter David Huff completely unraveled in the third.
The left-hander never got out of the inning, allowing five runs and leaving two on for Chad Durbin, who walked the first batter he faced before surrendering a mammoth (estimated 455 feet) grand slam to Mike Carp into the first row of the second deck in right field.
“We gave David some runs to work with,” Acta said. “Unfortunately, he had a really rough day out there. It was kind of deflating and kind of sucked the energy out of us.”
Huff worked a scoreless first inning before allowing a two-run homer in the second to Alex Liddi, who became the first Italian-born player since 1961 (Detroit’s Reno Bertoia) to hit a homer in the big leagues. It was a foreshadow of bad things to come.
“I think it was just stupid pitch selection,” Huff said in explaining his poor performance. “I left some balls over the middle and they hit me pretty hard. All in all, it was really frustrating and I’m disappointed in myself.”
Huff, who joined the rotation in July, began his year looking like a different pitcher than the Indians have seen the past two seasons, going 2-2 with a 2.08 ERA over his first four outings. But he’s resembled the same old guy over his last five — 0-4 with a 7.11 ERA.
“It’s pretty much the same thing with him,” Acta said, “not being aggressive in the strike zone and not being able to put hitters away.”
Santana’s homer was his 26th of the season, which is the most ever by a Cleveland switch hitter, surpassing Victor Martinez’s 25 in 2007. It has come in Santana’s first full season in the majors after his year was cut short by injury in 2010.
“A lot of switch hitters have come and gone in this organization,” Acta said. “For this kid to come up and do it in his first year says a lot about him.”
“It’s exciting,” Santana said. “I never thought I would hit 25 or 26 homers. I’m really happy.”
After Santana followed Cabrera’s homer with one of his own, it appeared the Indians would make quick work of Furbush, who was making his 12th start of the season.
The left-hander allowed four of his six runs within the first two innings but found a groove for a bit that saw him strike out six straight at one point. He wound up lasting five innings, but that’s not what beat the Indians.
“I think we did a good job against him,” Acta said. “We just let too many runs in.”
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.
