After being the victim of break-ins several times in recent weeks, Eddie Sabbah had scheduled an appointment tomorrow to have ADT install a security system at his East Avenue home.

“I have to call them back now and tell them I have no home,” he said shaking his head this morning.

Fire broke out in his home early today. The call came in about 4:30 this morning, according to fire Capt. Joseph Pronesti. East Avenue remains blocked off between 16th Street and Wooster and will be for several hours while the Building Department comes in to demolish the house, 1254 East, which is a total loss.

Sabbah is just happy to be alive, though.

He said he would have been sleeping in the upstairs bedroom if he hadn’t been dog-sitting for a friend.

His friend, Walter Edmonds, was away in Columbus and came back to Cleveland last night but didn’t make it home till early morning he said. Sabbah fell asleep on his couch.

Pronesti said the fire apparently started in the front of Sabbah’s house and the cause remains under investigation.

Sabbah worked this morning to salvage what he could from the home — mostly clothes and toys belonging to his 18-month-old son, Vincent, who lives with him part time. He hauled out a small, older TV — his flat screen was taken, he explained, in one of the break-ins.

He suffered a heart attack five weeks ago and said he’s without his medication, also taken during one of the break-ins.

Red Cross came to the scene to assist him, but he said he plans to stay with Edmonds while he works with his insurance company to find a permanent solution.

CLEVELAND – Travis Hafner preferred to skip a minor league rehab assignment and the designated hitter got his wish Sunday with the Indians activating him from the disabled list to start in the series finale against the Mariners.

He repaid his team by hitting a pivotal grand slam in a seven-run seventh inning that powered Cleveland to a 9-1 victory over Cy Young candidate Felix Hernandez and the Mariners.

“I felt today he showed some leadership by activating himself without a rehab assignment and competing against a guy like Felix,” said manager Manny Acta. “I thought that was a great gesture by him, because he knows we need him. Even if he’s not 100 percent swing-wise, he’s a presence.”

“There’s not a whole lot of experience on the team right now,” said Hafner, who had been sidelined since July 29 with inflammation in his problematic right shoulder. “If I was healthy, I wanted to get back as soon as I could.”

After going hitless with two strikeouts in his first three at-bats Sunday, a different thought crept into his head, though.

“I should have gone on the rehab assignment,” joked Hafner, who in his fourth at-bat drove a 2-1 sinker from Hernandez over the center-field wall to put the Indians in front 6-0, chasing the Mariners’ right-hander in the process. “No, you need to get back out there and face big league pitching.”

Hafner was riding a hot streak before the injury struck, batting .448 (13-for-29) with a home run and four RBIs in eight games prior to being placed on the injured list. Though his power numbers have been down, he entered Sunday hitting a team-best .296 (58-for-196) since May 4 to raise his season average from .189 to .267.

To clear room for Hafner on the 25-man roster, the Indians optioned Jordan Brown back to Triple-A Columbus. Brown made his major league debut for Cleveland, batting .226 (7-for-31) wit four doubles and an RBI in nine games.

Catching fire

Shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera scuffled upon leaving the disabled list, but he’s starting to pick up steam at the plate as of late.

Over his last nine games, Cabrera is batting .382 (13-for-34) with three runs, three doubles and four RBIs. He went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI on Sunday.

Next up

The Indians are off today, beginning a three-game series in Kansas City on Tuesday (8:10 p.m.)

Jeanmar Gomez (3-0, 1.54 ERA) opens the set for Cleveland, opposing RHP Zack Greinke (7-11, 3.99), while Fausto Carmona (11-10, 3.87) starts for the Indians on Wednesday (8:10 p.m.) against LHP Bruce Chen (7-6, 4.50).

Mitch Talbot (8-9, 4.09) goes for the Indians in the series finale Thursday (8:10 p.m.), while the Royals counter with RHP Kyle Davies (6-7, 5.22).

Minor details

Vinnie Pestano converted his seventh straight save opportunity Saturday in Columbus’ 1-0 victory over Louisville. Entering Sunday, Pestano, a 20^th-round draft pick in 2006, had posted a 1.20 ERA with 10 saves over his last 28 appearances (30 innings, 36 strikeouts). He was 2-5 with a 2.05 ERA and 14 saves in 50 games for the Clippers and Double-A Akron. … Two of Cleveland’s top prospects, 3B Lonnie Chisenhall and RHP Alex White, loomed large in Akron’s 12-2 victory over New Britain on Saturday. Chisenhall went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer and a season-high five RBIs, while White (7-6, 2.39 ERA), the Indians’ first-round draft pick last year (15^th overall), got the win, allowing just a run on three hits over six innings. White’s ERA led the Eastern League through Saturday, while his 1.09 WHIP ranked second.     

Roundin’ third

Aaron Laffey (left shoulder fatigue) will begin a rehab assignment with Class A Lake County today. … The deadline to sign draft picks is midnight tonight. The Indians have signed 20 of their 50 selections, but only one in the top five. Cleveland’s first-round pick (5^th overall), LHP Drew Pomeranz, is still is still unsigned.   

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

The Indians avoided the three-game sweep from the Mariners on Sunday, winning the series finale, 9-1.

Cleveland was powered by a seven-run seventh inning that featured a grand slam from Travis Hafner, who was activated from the disabled list prior to the game.

The Indians won for just the second time in eight games.

CLEVELAND – Mitch Talbot made his return to the Indians’ rotation Saturday night at Progressive Field. The triumphant part is going to have to wait.

Talbot, fresh off the 15-day disabled list where he landed with a midback strain, was understandably rusty. Coupled with another poor performance from Cleveland’s offense and defense, it all added up to a 9-3 loss to the Mariners, who secured the series by taking the first two games.

“It was not a very good ballgame overall,” said Indians manager Manny Acta, whose team has lost six of its last seven games. “Mitch wasn’t as sharp today and we didn’t play good defense behind him at times.”

Talbot lasted only four innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks.

“I felt pretty well,” Talbot said. “I missed a lot of spots over the plate. It wasn’t good.”

“He just couldn’t finish hitters off and that put us behind the eight ball,” Acta said. “Then they blew the game open with the grand slam.”

The grand slam came from a familiar face – former Indians catcher Josh Bard – and capped a five-run fifth inning that put the game away for the Mariners, who led 7-2 after Bard connected off reliever Hector Ambriz.

The inning began with another former Indian Russell Branyan, who opened the season in Cleveland, hitting a leadoff home run off Talbot.

The bases were loaded for Bard after a single from Jose Lopez that preceded consecutive errors on third baseman Andy Marte. Marte botched a pair of groundballs, then watched Bard all but beat his team.

“They opened the game (up) right there,” Marte said. “I want to make a good play. I want to catch every groundball I see.”

Marte didn’t agree with the first error on a ball that appeared to take a bad hop off the bat of Casey Kotchman.

“I don’t think I made the first one,” he said. “It was a tough groundball. I don’t know why they gave me an error. (On the second one) I was just trying to pass it from my glove to my hand and I missed.”

Bard entered the game hitting just .219 but went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, missing the cycle by a triple. He went  2-for-2 off Talbot, who is hoping the dismal outing can be chalked up to inactivity.

“I hope that’s what it is,” he said. “Mechanically, I felt good. Physically, I felt good. It was just one of those nights where I didn’t have any control. Hopefully, I’ll come back next start and have my stuff back.”

Acta was expecting a better outing from Talbot, long layoff or not.

“We’re not here to make excuses for guys,” Acta said. “When they pitch well, they pitch well. When they struggle, they struggle, and he struggled today.”

Cleveland’s depleted offense did little against Mariners starter Jason Vargas, who allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings.

Down 2-0, the Indians showed some life by rallying to tie it on a double from Jayson Nix followed by a Marte single. After tying the game, Marte was promptly picked off to end the inning.

Nix drove in Cleveland’s final run in the sixth with a two-out homer off Vargas, accounting for one of two Indians’ hits over the final four innings.

“We lost four guys – Austin Kearns, Carlos Santana, Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta – in the middle of our lineup,” Acta said. “It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a battle for these kids.”

The Indians played well against teams above .500 over a 24-game stretch to start the second half. Since then, they have dropped four of five games to the last-place Orioles and Mariners.

“We played that stretch of tough teams and played pretty well,” Talbot said. “You want to continue that, so yeah, it’s been a little bit frustrating. That’s baseball, I guess.”

The Indians are expected to get somewhat of a boost today with the likely activation of Travis Hafner, who has been on the disabled list since Aug. 3 with right shoulder inflammation.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

TODAY

• WHO: Cleveland vs. Seattle
• TIME: 1:05 p.m.
• WHERE: Progressive Field
• PITCHERS: Masterson (4-11, 5.47 ERA) vs. Hernandez (8-9, 2.71)
• TV/RADIO: Channel 3, SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM