M’S Close Out Historic April With Shutout

From a long way away, on a television set in Arizona, Chris Bosio watched the Seattle Mariners raise their 1996 division championship pennant in the Kingdome on Opening Night.

“It hurt not being there,” he said. “That was our flag. I wanted to be there, to turn to my teammates, to share that …”

Bosio was in a minor league camp in Peoria, pushing himself against kids headed for rookie ball and wondering if he’d ever pitch in the big leagues again.

On Tuesday, a month after the opener, Bosio served up another reminder that he is back - pitching the Mariners into a first-place tie with Texas by beating the Rangers 8-0.

“Any young pitcher who wants to know what makes certain pitchers successful ought to watch Bosio,” manager Lou Piniella said. “It’s no mystery. He makes hitters hit in his count, not a hitter’s count. He stays ahead, he puts the ball where he wants it and makes them put it in play.

“He’s a professional.”

Closing out the most successful April in team history, the Mariners got six shutout innings from Bosio - who now owns a career record of 24-10 in April - and matched the Rangers with a 16-10 start.

“It’s April, not September,” Bosio said. “But this team is special. There were a bunch of guys out here at 2 p.m. Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. start, getting in extra work. We’re a team that’s learned to deal with tough losses and big wins, and the one thing I can guarantee you is that either way we’ll be ready again tomorrow. This team is always ready.”

Ask Kevin Gross.

The Rangers right-hander was peppered from the outset and chased after 3-2/3 innings, trailing 5-0. He not only couldn’t stop Seattle’s big hitters - he couldn’t stop any of the Mariners bats. Nor could the men who followed him to the mound for Texas.

A season-high 19 hits were spread generously up and down the lineup: every Seattle starter had at least one hit and three Mariners - Joey Cora, Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner - had three apiece.

Paul Sorrento homered for two runs. Cora had three RBI. Dan Wilson had two hits, one of them a double, and his 21st RBI of April.

“We’ve had a rough stretch or two and we’ve got some questions to answer yet,” Piniella said, “but I’m proud of these kids.”

And for the first time in his life, Piniella could be proud of a grandchild, too - just before the game began, his wife Anita called to say their daughter, Kristi, had delivered a daughter of her own, Kassidy Byrd.

“She said ‘Go win one,”’ Piniella said of his wife, “and we did.”

They did it impressively, closing out April with a major league record 44 homers and having allowed fewer unearned runs (2) than any team.

In putting together the fastest start in franchise history, the Mariners have beaten teams from the A.L. East (7-5), A.L. Central (6-5) and A.L. West (3-0).

Mariners 8, Rangers 0

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 5 0 3 3 0 0 .239 Sojo ss 6 0 2 0 0 0 .300 Griffey Jr cf 4 1 2 0 2 0 .253 EMartinz dh 6 1 3 1 0 0 .347 Buhner rf 5 1 3 0 0 1 .301 Sorrento 1b 5 2 1 2 0 2 .229 Strange 3b 4 1 1 0 1 1 .250 DWilson c 5 2 2 1 0 2 .291 Amaral lf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .213 Totals 44 8 19 8 3 6

Texas AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Hamilton cf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .289 a-Bfrd ph-cf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .313 IRodriguez c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .321 WClark 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .295 JGonzalez rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .299 Newson dh 3 0 1 0 1 1 .211 Palmer 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .317 Greer lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .292 McLemre 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .291 Elster ss 3 0 1 0 0 1 .279 Totals 32 0 4 0 2 5

Seattle 031 100 300 - 8 19 1 Texas 000 000 000 - 0 4 2

a-flied out for Hamilton in the 9th.

E-Sorrento (1), Palmer (1), Elster (2). LOBSeattle 14, Texas 7. 2B-Sojo (5), Griffey Jr (3), EMartinez (13), Buhner 2 (5), DWilson (3). HR-Sorrento (6) off KeGross. RBIsCora 3 (9), EMartinez (20), Sorrento 2 (19), DWilson (21), Amaral (3). CS-Sojo (2). S-Amaral. SF-Cora.

Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 7 (Sojo, EMartinez 3, Strange 3); Texas 2 (Greer, McLemore).

Runners moved up-Buhner, DWilson, Greer.

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Bosio W,3-1 6 4 0 0 2 1 89 3.09 TDavis 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 2 18 6.23 BWells 1-2/3 0 0 0 0 2 22 1.37

Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA KeGrss L,3-3 3-2/3 9 5 5 2 1 67 6.75 Brandenburg 3-1/3 7 3 0 0 4 49 1.23 Vosberg 1 2 0 0 0 0 17 2.25 Heredia 1 1 0 0 1 1 31 4.29

Inherited runners-scored-Brandenburg 2-0.

IBBoff KeGross (Griffey Jr) 1.

T-2:57. A-27,272 (49,178).