Stanford returns, aids Tribe

Jason Stanford carried a shutout into the seventh to help the Indians win, 3-2.

MIAMI (AP) — Back in the majors for the first time since April 2004, Jason Stanford carried a shutout into the seventh inning and helped the Cleveland Indians beat the Florida Marlins 3-2 on Thursday night.

Stanford (1-0) allowed six hits and one run while striking out seven in six-plus innings for his second major league win — the other was Sept. 26, 2003. He retired 10 straight at one point, capping his return from elbow reconstruction surgery three years ago.

Victor Martinez homered, doubled and scored twice for the Indians, who spoiled a night where the Marlins honored 13 players from the 1997 World Series championship team — which beat Cleveland in a seven-game classic.

Casey Blake singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 23 games for Cleveland and, after a rain delay of 1:01 in the middle of the ninth, Joe Borowski pitched out of trouble for his 19th save in 21 chances.

Miguel Olivo singled in Miguel Cabrera in the ninth to pull the Marlins within one.

Hanley Ramirez, Aaron Boone and Jeremy Hermida two hits each for Florida.

In good form

Stanford didn’t allow a baserunner to reach second until Josh Willingham’s leadoff double in the seventh, and needed only 82 pitches to get through the first six innings. But Willingham’s double gave the Marlins some life and, after Hermida followed with a sharp single to put runners on first and third with none out, Indians manager Eric Wedge summoned Roberto Hernandez to replace Stanford.

Hernandez relieved Stanford and induced a 6-4-3 double play grounder by Olivo, but lost the shutout bid when Willingham scored on the play.

Franklin Gutierrez had two hits and an RBI and Josh Barfield added two hits for the Indians.

Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis (7-6) allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings while striking out eight. He gave up Martinez’s 13th home run leading off the second, and allowed another in the third on Jason Michaels’ RBI single.

Grady Sizemore reached with two out, beating out an infield hit on a play where it appeared Willis’ left hand got stepped on while he covered first base. Sizemore went to second on the play and Willis, who briefly rolled around in pain, stayed in and gave up the RBI single to Michaels, the next batter.

Cleveland made it 3-0 in the sixth when Martinez led off with a double and eventually scored on Gutierrez’s single.

Notes

Blake’s hitting streak is the third-longest by a Cleveland player in 11 years, and is eight shy of Nap LaJoie’s century-old club record. ... Marlins 2B Dan Uggla was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. ... Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt worked a scoreless eighth, his 14th straight appearance without allowing a run. ... The rain began falling in the top of the ninth, and umpires called for the tarp after one of Borowski’s warm-up tosses sailed several feet from where he aimed.