Martinez Leads Indians in 18-6 Rout

Victor Martinez hit three of Cleveland’s club record-tying eight homers and drove in a career-high seven runs Friday night at Seattle in an 18-6 rout of the Mariners.

Matt Lawton, Martinez and Casey Blake connected for consecutive homers in a six-run third inning. In the ninth, Martinez, Travis Hafner and Ben Broussard all homered off Julio Mateo. And Jody Gerut connected off Mike Myers for Cleveland’s eighth homer, which tied the club record set at Milwaukee April 25, 1997.

After Hafner’s homer, Mateo hit Lou Merloni in the back with a pitch and was ejected by plate umpire Tim Tschida. Both benches emptied, but there were no punches thrown.

The eight homers were the most given up by the Mariners, who have lost 10 of 11. The eight homers also were a record at Safeco Field.

The switch-hitting Martinez went five for five. He hit a three-run homer and a solo shot from the right side of the plate and a solo shot from the left. He also had a two-run single.

Cliff Lee (10-1) won his fifth decision in a row. The left-hander pitched six innings and gave up three runs and four hits with two walks and six strikeouts. His only loss in 19 starts came June 3 in Anaheim.

It was the 11th time in franchise history that the Indians had three consecutive homers; the last time was against the Angels on Sept. 12, 1996, by Jim Thome, Albert Belle and Julio Franco. Their four home runs in the ninth tied a club record for homers in an inning, last accomplished against the Angels on July 31, 1963.

Oakland 5, Chicago 1 -- Barry Zito (5-7) pitched seven strong innings for his first victory in seven starts and Jermaine Dye hit a three-run homer as the Athletics cruised to victory at Oakland.

Dye had three hits and Marco Scutaro had a run-scoring double for the A’s, who beat Chicago at Network Associates Coliseum for the 15th time in 16 games. Oakland has won 22 of its last 25 at home.

Zito didn’t allow a runner past first base after the second inning.

Detroit 8, New York 0 -- Mike Maroth (6-7) pitched a one-hitter, Ivan Rodriguez had a two-run double in a five-run fifth and the Tigers matched their win total from last season with a victory over the Yankees at Detroit.

Gary Sheffield’s double in the fourth was the lone hit against Maroth and Sheffield was the only Yankee to reach second.

The Tigers have won six of eight and the Yankees lost for the first time in six games. The Tigers (43-46) were 43-119 last season.

Texas 11, Toronto 2 -- Ryan Drese (5-5) pitched into the eighth, giving up one earned run at Arlington, Texas. He has all of his victories at home, where his 1.91 earned-run average is the second-best in the American League behind Oakland’s Tim Hudson.

The AL West-leading Rangers (50-37) had a better record at this point in the season only once, when they were 51-36 in 1996 -- when they won their first division title.

Tampa Bay 2, Baltimore 0 -- John Halama (5-3) gave up three hits over eight innings at St. Petersburg, Fla., to help the Devil Rays stop a five-game losing streak.

Rocco Baldelli hit a run-scoring double with two outs in the third inning and scored on Aubrey Huff’s single.

Kansas City 12, Minnesota 3 -- Dee Brown hit a grand slam and Desi Relaford a two-run homer in the third inning to lead the Royals at Kansas City, Mo. Darrell May (7-9), who started 2-8, pitched seven innings of seven-hit ball and won for the fourth time in five decisions.