M’S Squander Chances Indians 3, Mariners 2 Mariners Strand Nine Runners In Loss

Deep into October, far into a run that has produced more joy than most of them have known in baseball, the Seattle Mariners are on the brink of elimination - again.

“The intensity all month has been incredible and now there will be a little more,” Dan Wilson said. “If we don’t win, our time is up.”

Period.

After an edge-of-the-dugout-bench Game 5 of the American League Championship Series - a game Cleveland won, 3-2 - the Mariners are coming home.

Maybe for good. Maybe for the year. Trailing the best-of-seven ALCS 3-2, they’re one loss from watching the World Series instead of playing in it.

“We’ve been here before, yeah, but what we did in the regular season, what we did in the Yankees series, that’s over,” Ken Griffey Jr. said. “All that matters is, ‘Can we do something about it now?’ “

It has been a series in which a half dozen Mariners have been tempted to take post-game bites out of their bats, but nothing in the first four contests had prepared Seattle for Sunday night.

In frigid conditions - by the ninth inning it was 40 degrees and the wind was whipping in 27 mph gusts - the Indians came up with three runs early and then held on late. One night after four Cleveland pitchers shut out the Mariners on six hits, five more Indians pitchers stopped Seattle on five hits.

That’s 18 innings and one earned run.

And now it’s down to this: Game 6 on Tuesday, Randy Johnson vs. Dennis Martinez in the Kingdome.

“Randy is the best there is,” manager Lou Piniella said, “but you’ve got to give him runs. If we come up with three runs tonight, we’re still playing. If we come up with four, we’re headed home leading the series, 3-2.”

Before the series began, Piniella talked of winning one of the first two games at home, winning another in Cleveland and taking his chances with the final two at home. That was before Seattle went ahead in the series, 2-1, on Friday.

“We had the chance to win this one and go home in a great position,” Jay Buhner said. “We had chance after chance tonight.”

Frustrated? Tino Martinez weighed the question.

“What can you do when you hit line drives right at people?” he asked. “When you hit balls hard and get nothing, you’ve done all you can do. We fought down to the last at-bat tonight, and on the last swing of the game Edgar (Martinez) hits one to the warning track in center field - against the wind.”

A lineup shaken and stirred by Piniella inserted Doug Strange at third base, Alex Diaz in left field, then moved Edgar from fourth to second in the batting order, moving Buhner from sixth to fourth.

All that movement produced scoring opportunities all night - the Mariners left at least one man on base in every inning but the ninth - but never could break through big. In three of the first five innings, Seattle stranded a runner in scoring position.

Chris Bosio, meanwhile, was dancing in and out of trouble of his own. Though he trailed 1-0 after the first inning, he forced the Indians to leave the bases loaded that inning, and got into the sixth inning ahead, 2-1.

Junior’s two-out double against Orel Hershiser tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning, and when Cleveland outfielder Albert Belle dropped a fly ball - then threw it away for a double-error - Joey Cora scampered home in the fifth inning with the go-ahead run.

It lasted an inning.

Bosio gave up a double to Eddie Murray one out into the sixth inning, then threw a 2-0 off-speed pitch to Jim Thome that the third baseman hit into the second deck in right field. It was Bosio’s last pitch.

In the sixth inning, with Tino on second base, Diaz lined out on a fine running catch in center field by Lofton. An inning later, the Mariners found the game at point-blank range with their best artillery coming up.

A pair of errors at first by Paul Sorrento put Dan Wilson and Cora on first and second base - none out - with Edgar, Griffey and Buhner coming up.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100, we get at least one run there,” Tino said.

Julian Tavarez got Edgar on a ground ball fielders choice, leaving runners at first and third base. Cleveland went to the bullpen and lefthander Paul Assenmacher, who struck out Junior, then Buhner.

So now the series takes a day off and opens again in the ‘dome on Tuesday. The Indians don’t want a Game 7, Seattle wants one desperately.

“We want to end this as soon as possible,” closer Jose Mesa said. “Nobody on our team thinks it will be easy. It might be like that last at-bat tonight.”

Two outs into the ninth inning, Mesa vs. Edgar Martinez, Martinez fouled off pitch after pitch after pitch.

“Every foul ball, you could tell he was closer, zeroing in,” Tino said. “We were all standing up.”

Finally, Martinez drove a Mesa fastball toward the deepest part of the ballpark and Lofton raced after it, caught in just in front of the wall.

“We’ve found ways to win all year,” Piniella said, “we didn’t find one tonight.”

Now they’re down to one chance. It comes Tuesday. Forget the calendar - if Seattle loses Tuesday, October ends.

Indians 3, Mariners 2

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 4 2 1 0 1 0 .211 EMartinz dh 5 0 0 0 0 2 .050 Griffey Jr cf 3 0 1 1 1 1 .389 Buhner rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .368 TMartinez 1b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .158 Strange 3b 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000 Coleman ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .063 Blowers 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 ADiaz lf 3 0 2 0 1 0 .500 Sojo ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .235 DWilson c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Amaral ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals 33 2 5 1 4 10 Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Lofton cf 5 0 2 0 0 1 .450 Vizquel ss 4 1 1 0 1 0 .105 Baerga 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .333 Belle lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .143 Kirby lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 Murray dh 3 1 3 1 1 0 .300 Thome 3b 3 1 1 2 1 1 .267 Espinoza 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 MRamirez rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .333 Sorrento 1b 2 0 0 0 1 1 .154 HPerry 1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 SAlomar c 4 0 2 0 0 0 .267 Pena c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 Totals 32 3 10 3 5 7

Seattle 001 010 000 - 2 5 2

Cleveland 100 002 00x - 3 10 4

E-Griffey Jr (1), TMartinez (1), Belle 2 (2), Sorrento 2 (2). DP-Sea 2, Cle 1. LOBSea 9, Cle 11. 2B-Griffey Jr (2), ADiaz (1), Murray (1), SAlomar (1). HR-Thome (2). SB-Cora (2), Coleman (3), Lofton 2 (4), Vizquel 2 (3). S-Strange, Kirby.

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Bosio L,0-1 5 7 3 2 2 3 79 3.38 JNelson 1 2 0 0 3 2 36 0.00 Risley 1 1 0 0 0 2 33 0.00 Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Hrshsr W,2-0 6 5 2 1 2 8 93 1.29 Tavarez 0 0 0 0 0 7 3.86 Assenmacher 1 0 0 0 0 2 13 0.00 Plunk 0 0 0 2 0 19 9.00 Mesa S,1 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 3.00 T-3:37. A-43,607.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: A.L. CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES Sunday’s game Cleveland 3, Seattle 2 Tuesday’s game Cleveland (Martinez 12-6) at Seattle (Johnson 18-2), 5 p.m.