SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Gil Meche took the pressure off the Seattle Mariners' depleted bullpen.
Meche worked into the eighth inning and John Olerud hit his first homer of the season as the red-hot Mariners blanked the Cleveland Indians, 4-0.
In a career-high 7 2/3 innings, Meche (2-1) scattered five singles. He matched a career best with eight strikeouts, walked two and threw 109 pitches before departing.
"I had a lot of jump on my fastball today than my previous starts," Meche said. "It just seemed like the life through the zone was better. I had good command of everything so it was a great day. Everybody talks about you either have a good slider or a good curveball on any given start and for some reason, they both showed up today."
Before the game, the Mariners placed closer Kazuhiro Sasaki on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain. Meche's outing kept manager Bob Melvin from relying heavily on his relievers, who have allowed 23 earned runs this season.
"A lot of guys were talking about he's blown some games early. But we definitely need him," Meche said. "He's just got the sore back right now and hopefully, they can clear that up as quick as possible."
Shigetoshi Hasegawa got the last out of the eighth, Arthur Rhodes allowed a hit in the ninth and Jeff Nelson got the final out, nailing down Seattle's ninth win in 11 games.
"The plan today, after we got the news on Kaz was to use those two (Rhodes and Nelson) as closers and that's what we did," Melvin said. "Hopefully, we'll be on time for the 15 days and he will come back and take over the role he has been so successful in."
Cleveland rookie starter Ricardo Rodriguez (2-1) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings. Among the hits was Olerud's solo homer in the fourth that just cleared the right field fence.
Meche is in Seattle's rotation for the first time since making 15 starts in 2000. He missed 2001 while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right rotator cuff and spent last season in the minors.
Meche has gotten better in every start. He was roughed up for six runs and nine hits in five innings at Texas in his season debut. But he has allowed four runs and 14 hits to go along with 19 strikeouts in his last three starts.
"Each time he has been building to get to this type of outing," Melvin said. "I can't say enough about him. Everything was working for him. He was getting strike one, he was good with his pitch count and it was as good a pitched game as we have had all year."
"He threw the ball well," Indians catcher Josh Bard said. "He pitched inside more than he has in the past. I think that's part of the reason that he had some success tonight. He didn't walk a lot guys and pitched with confidence."
Two of Cleveland's hits against Meche came in the first inning. Former Mariner Omar Vizquel and rookie Brandon Phillips opened the game with single, but Meche struck out Karim Garcia and Ellis Burks, retiring 15 of the next 16 batters.
"It was huge," Meche said. "First and third and I get two huge punchouts and then the fly ball to center. That was the biggest boost of the game."
"I tell you what, he was outstanding tonight," Cleveland manager Eric Wedge said. "He had a live fastball. All of his secondary pitches, he was able to throw where he wanted to. He was pretty good against us tonight."
Meche lowered his ERA to 3.33 - second behind Jamie Moyer among Mariner starters. He has not given up an earned run since Texas' Doug Glanville homered off him 11 days ago.
Cleveland put two runners aboard in with one out in the sixth, but Garcia bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Rodriguez matched Meche for three innings. But he issued a leadoff walk in the fourth to Mark McLemore, who stole second and took third on Bret Boone's groundout before scoring on Edgar Martinez's sacrifice fly.
Olerud followed with his first homer since September 9 and McLemore's two-run double in the fifth capped the scoring.
