Lee tames Mariners for 13th win

The Tribe’s lefthanded ace scattered 11 hits in a 6-2 win in Seattle.

SEATTLE (AP) — Cliff Lee left something behind in New York during a chaotic All-Star trip: command of his fastball.

So what? He still has a nasty curve and a few other outstanding off-speed pitches.

Lee followed up his All-Star start by allowing 11 hits in his second complete game of the season as Cleveland beat the Seattle Mariners 6-2 Sunday.

“Surprise, surprise! It’s The General Cliff Lee!” fellow Indians All-Star Grady Sizemore announced in a mock Southern accent, “Dukes of Hazard” style.

Lee, a native of Arkansas who was just 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA while Cleveland won the AL Central last season, became the American League’s first 13-game winner.

He also became the first Indians pitcher to yield at least 11 hits in a complete-game win since Charles Nagy, who gave up 13 against Baltimore on June 17, 1992, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“I was missing with my fastball quite a bit over the plate today,” Lee said. “Whatever. I’ll take that outing every time.”

The 29-year-old left-hander described his two-day All-Star blitz and then two scoreless innings at Yankee Stadium last week as “chaotic ... but well worth it.”

“That was definitely an honor and a thrill to get to do that, but after Tuesday it was over,” he said. “Time to try to get back to where I was in the first half.”

Consider that task complete.

Lee (13-2) threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of his first 20 batters, and 41 of his first 50 pitches were strikes. Only one Mariner even saw ball three: Miguel Cairo with two outs in the seventh. Cairo then tripled home Jose Lopez to make it 6-2.

Four of the season-high 11 hits allowed by Lee (13-2) stayed in the infield, and seven came over the final three innings as he tired. He struck out four and walked none in his fifth career complete game.

Lee’s 2.29 ERA is second in the AL to Oakland’s Justin Duchscherer (1.87).

Kelly Shoppach ended an 0-for-13 funk with a three-run homer off injured starter Carlos Silva in the fourth. The catcher tied a career high with four RBIs and helped last-place Cleveland to its second consecutive win following 10 straight road defeats — its longest such skid since 1991.

“He makes me look like I am calling the right pitch,” Shoppach said about Lee. “He’s a lot of fun to catch.”