Mariners Rip Twins, Keep Pace Buhner, Tino Get 4 Rbis Each As Seattle Keeps Heat On Yanks
Just about everything went right for the Mariners on Tuesday night.
Chris Bosio collected his first victory in four outings. Jay Buhner led a four-home run Mariners’ offensive outburst with two of his own.
The result was a 14-3 rout over the Minnesota Twins in the Kingdome, leaving the Mariners a half-game back of the New York Yankees in the American League wild-card race.
Only 12,102 came to witness a landmark performance by the Mariners.
Tino Martinez drove in four runs to give him 101 RBIs in 1995, marking the first time in Mariners history that three players have knocked in 100 or more runs in one season. Martinez joined Jay Buhner (106) and Edgar Martinez (105).
Mike Blowers smacked his 20th home run in the third inning, giving Seattle four hitters with 20 or more homers for the first time in a season.
Buhner hit a three-run homer in the first inning and added a solo shot in the seventh to mark the fourth game in a row he has homered.
Catcher Dan Wilson cranked a three-run home run in the seventh, his third homer in as many games.
Simply a wild night for the M’s.
Fans got to see offensive fireworks. They even got to see Arquimedez Pozo step up for his first major-league at-bat in the seventh inning shortly after Wilson’s three-run blast put the Mariners in front, 14-3. As fans chanted his name, Pozo popped out, but fans stood to give him an ovation anyway.
“It’s good to see these guys swinging the bats,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “This club, for a large, measure is a home run-hitting club. When we hit home runs in bunches, we usually do well.”
Buhner and Tino Martinez were simply spectacular.
Martinez drove in his first run with a double off starter Frank Rodriguez in the first. He then cleared the bases with a double off Rodriguez in the fourth, putting Seattle ahead 10-3. In the sixth, he smashed a pitch off reliever Scott Klingenbeck deep into the seats in right field with a runner on base - but the ball curved foul.
“I was just trying to hit the ball hard,” Martinez said.
All this was rather pleasing to the eyes of Bosio. When Bosio (10-8) left the game after the sixth inning, he stared at a 10-3 lead, the biggest showing of run support he’s received by the Mariners this season.
The victory was Bosio’s first in four outings. The 32-year-old right-hander wasn’t at his best, but came away with a solid nine-hit, five-strikeout, one-walk, 100-pitch performance. His biggest mistake was giving up a three-run home run to Pat Meares with two outs in the fourth, cutting Seattle’s lead to 6-3.
But the Mariners backed him. Offensively, with 10 runs. Defensively, with outstanding defense, the best coming on second baseman Joey Cora’s diving catch off Chuck Knoblauch’s liner with two outs and two runners on in the sixth.
And the relievers held up.
Seattle’s bullpen, which had managed to blow six saves this season after Bosio gave them the lead, delivered on Tuesday. It was a one-man show. Rafael Carmona didn’t allow a run in the final three innings to earn his first save. He struck out Marty Cordova with the bases loaded to end the game.
Bosio got run support early, as the Mariners scored four runs in the first and added a run in the second and third innings to take a 6-0 lead.
Still, the night started off badly for Bosio. Four pitches, four balls, plenty of boos. But Bosio pulled out of his funk, retired the next three batters, then watched the Mariners tee off on starter Rodriguez (5-6).
With two outs, third baseman Scott Leius bobbled a grounder by Edgar Martinez for an error - and the Twins paid for it. Tino Martinez followed with an RBI double, and, three pitches later, Buhner cranked the ball deep into the left-field seats for a three-run home run, his 32nd homer of the season.
With his team trailing 4-0, all off unearned runs, Rodriguez gave up back-to-back doubles to Vince Coleman and Cora in the second, with Cora’s hit scoring Coleman. In the third, Rodriguez gave up a two-out solo homer to Blowers, his 20th.