Tribe Takes Mariners In 10th

The game had a little bit of everything, including Jaret Wright taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning.

Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel made dazzling plays in the field. Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez hit long home runs.

And the Cleveland Indians beat the Seattle Mariners 5-3 on RBI singles by Einar Diaz and Jacob Cruz with two outs in the 10th inning on Wednesday.

Wright was bidding to become part of the first father-son pair to pitch no-hitters.

"My dad's talked to me about it," Wright said. "I have to go out there and do it now."

"That was a heck of a game," Cleveland manager Charlie Manuel said. "That was good, old-fashioned baseball. There was everything except a fight."

Said Mariners manager Lou Piniella: "This was as fine a baseball game as I've watched for a long time. The unfortunate part is we lot it."

The Mariners tied it at 3 in the ninth on Jay Buhner's RBI single off Paul Shuey (1-0). Seattle then loaded the bases with one out, but pinch-runner Carlos Hernandez was caught in a failed suicide squeeze attempt and David Bell then struck out to end the inning.

"I just missed it," Bell said. "I've got to get the ball down. It's a simple game."

Richie Sexson singled with one out in the Cleveland 10th off Arthur Rhodes (1-2) and Enrique Wilson singled with two outs. Diaz and Cruz followed with their singles on 0-2 counts.

"He has a 93-94 mph fastball," Cruz said. "So was I was looking for a fastball. But he threw me three sliders."

Wright was trying to duplicate the feat of his dad, Clyde, who pitched a no-hitter for the California Angels against Oakland on July 3, 1970.

After Javier singled in the seventh, Rodriguez followed by hitting a 3-1 pitch over the center-field fence for his seventh homer to tie it at 2.

"After that first hit, I was still really focused," Wright said. "But I got behind to Alex and he hit it. That's why he's such a good hitter. He did what he's supposed to do."

Ramirez hit a leadoff home run in the Indians eighth for a 3-2 lead. His sixth homer came against former teammate Jose Mesa.

Cleveland center fielder Lofton made the play of the game, reaching over the wall to rob John Olerud of his third home run in four days. That catch came in the fourth inning, right after shortstop Omar Vizquel sprawled on his stomach to take away a hit on a hard grounder by Rodriguez.

Lofton left in the ninth because of a strained left biceps.

After the game, Lofton was told he looked like Ken Griffey Jr., who was Seattle's Gold Glove center fielder for 11 seasons before moving onto Cincinnati.

"No, Griffey looks like me," an unsmiling Lofton said. "Get it right."

It took the Indians six innings to score against rookie Rob Ramsay. He ws called up from Triple-A Tacoma to start in place of the injured Freddy Garcia.

Roberto Alomar bunted for a single in the sixth, stole second and scored on a single by David Justice.

The Indians made it 2-0 in the seventh off Mesa. Wilson doubled, Diaz sacrificed and Lofton had a sacrifice fly.

Notes