Mariners able to take deep breath

CLEVELAND -- Whew. Take a deep breath, Seattle.

Just when it looked like the Mariners would tie the 1906 Chicago Cubs again, rookie Ichiro Suzuki got another big hit and baseball's best team this season got the biggest of its 118 wins.

Suzuki's RBI single highlighted a three-run rally in the seventh inning as the Mariners forced a decisive Game 5 back in Seattle with a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Indians in the AL playoffs.

"Now, we take it to our house," center fielder Mike Cameron said.

Seattle, which won 116 games during the regular season, was perilously close to doing the same thing the '06 Cubs -- the team whose wins record the Mariners matched -- did 95 years ago. The Cubs didn't win the World Series that year.

But showing the resilience that made them almost unstoppable since April, the Mariners came back in the seventh off Bartolo Colon (1-1), who shut them out for eight innings in Game 1 and blanked them for the first six on Sunday after a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay.

"We battled back from adversity all season," Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "We weren't going to lose because of the pressure. We were going to lose because the other team outplayed us."

Suzuki went 3-for-5 and Edgar Martinez hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the Mariners, who were blown out 17-2 and played possibly their worst game all season in Game 3 on Saturday.

"We got our butts kicked," second baseman Bret Boone said. "But remember, I said this team is ready."

Freddy Garcia (1-1) pitched 6 1-3 innings for the win.

Jamie Moyer, who beat the Indians in Game 2 and went 2-0 against them in the regular season, will start Game 5 for the Mariners today at Safeco Field against Chuck Finley.

"I'm elated about getting to pitch in a fifth game," said Finley, who waited 15 years to make his first postseason start in Game 2 and gave up a pair of two-run homers in the first. "I started thinking about that after Game 2. I had the feeling we might be back in Seattle anyway."

Before Game 4, a relaxed Piniella was confident his team would go home to play another day.

"We have to take that long ride back to Seattle," Piniella said. "So we may as well make Cleveland take the same plane ride."

For six innings it looked like the Mariners would fly solo, but the Indians are headed to the airport, too.

"I didn't want to take that ride," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. "But that's the way things worked out."

Juan Gonzalez's second-inning homer looked like it might stand up as Colon handled the Mariners with ease for six innings.

But he walked John Olerud to open the seventh, and Stan Javier threw his bat at an outside pitch and singled to left.

The Indians tried to pick Olerud off second, but Colon's wild throw allowed the Mariners to finally get a runner to third. Mike Cameron walked to load the bases, and pinch-hitter Al Martin grounded into a force at the plate.

David Bell followed with a fly ball down the left-field line that Marty Cordova ran down in foul territory, but it was deep enough to score Javier without a play to tie it at 1.

Manuel had left-hander Ricardo Rincon ready to face Suzuki. But he stuck with Colon and Suzuki singled through the hole in right to score Cameron and give Seattle a 2-1 lead.