Hall drives in pair in M's debut

The Indians' Jamey Carroll slides across the plate before Rob Johnson can apply his tag during the fifth inning Friday night.

CLEVELAND - Bill Hall was worried about his timing. It could not have been more perfect.

Hall drove in two runs in his first game for the Seattle Mariners, helping rookie Luke French to a 9-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians Friday night.

"I hadn't played in a week-and-a-half and was wondering about my timing," said Hall, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.

Hall started in left field and had two hits. He put Seattle ahead 1-0 with an RBI single in the second inning off David Huff (7-7). His sacrifice fly in a two-run third made it 3-1.

"Getting a hit in my first at-bat helped me forget about my timing," said Hall, who hit .201 in 76 games for Milwaukee. "I was able to be more relaxed."

Jose Lopez hit a two-run homer and Russell Branyan and Josh Wilson had solo shots for Seattle.

French (3-3) allowed three runs and eight hits over six innings to improve to 2-1 in four starts since being acquired July 31 as part of the deal that sent veteran pitcher Jerrod Washburn to Detroit. The left-hander walked three and struck out six.

"We had our fair share of hits but couldn't get the big inning," Indians manager Eric Wedge said after Cleveland left nine men on base.

The 23-year-old French worked out of jams in the second, fourth, and fifth innings.

After yielding an RBI single to Andy Marte that tied the score 1-1 in the second, French struck out Grady Sizemore with two on to thwart that rally. French fanned Marte with two on to get out of the fourth and got Jhonny Peralta to hit into an inning-ending double play after yielding an RBI single to Shin-Soo Choo in the fifth.

Marte and Choo each had two RBIs for Cleveland.

Huff gave up five runs and six hits over 31/3 innings.

"He just didn't command the baseball and was out of whack all night," Wedge said of the rookie left-hander, who walked four without a strikeout. "He's still trying to figure out what he needs to do to be successful up here, but you can't be too complicated."

Huff left after yielding Wilson's third homer of the season and a double to Ichiro Suzuki. Franklin Gutierrez greeted reliever Tomo Ohka with an RBI single, and Lopez followed with his 17th homer for a 7-1 lead.

All of Wilson's homers have come in his last eight games.

Gutierrez had three hits and scored three runs. He is batting .355 with eight RBIs in eight games against the Indians, who traded him to Seattle in December.

Branyan hit his 29th homer in the seventh to restore Seattle's five-run lead. He singled home Gutierrez in the ninth.