Vargas leads Mariners past Tribe

Associated Press

seattle

Jason Vargas threw seven innings and the top of the order provided pop for the Seattle Mariners in a 4-1 win Wednesday night over the Cleveland Indians before the smallest crowd in the history of Safeco Field.

Brandon League pitched the bottom of the ninth for his fifth straight save. Just 11,343 watched the game, setting a new record-low at Safeco Field, which was built in 1999. The previous low was 11,701 against Baltimore on May 31, 2011.

Derek Lowe (2-1) pitched 41/3 innings, allowed two home runs, four earned runs and walked six — one short of his career-high.

Chone Figgins and Ichiro Suzuki provided a brisk start for the Mariners. Figgins turned an eight-pitch at-bat into his eighth career leadoff home run and first of the season. It was Figgins’ first home run since April 1, 2011.

Ichiro followed two batters later with his first home run of the year when he hit a drive to right-center field. That was his first home run batting third after hitting 94 batting leadoff, and one batting second, leaving him four shy of 100 career homers.