Super Defense, Superb Pitching Can’t Carry M’S
If the road to the World Series goes through Cleveland, the Seattle Mariners better find a detour.
On an afternoon when their defense was spectacular, their pitching rock-solid, the Mariners couldn’t score Sunday and lost to the Indians, 2-0 - their third loss in a four-game series against the team with the American League’s best record.
“We gave ‘em 13 runs in four games and lost three times,” Chris Bosio said. “You can’t beat yourself up after a series like that, after a game like this. We held ‘em close. You hate to have to do it, but you tip your cap and move on.”
No one has had to tip his cap more often while biting his tongue than Bosio. The veteran right-hander joined the Mariners in 1993, and since then Seattle has been shut out 15 times.
Bosio has started seven of those games.
“Chris couldn’t pitch any better, our defense couldn’t have played any better,” manager Lou Piniella said. “What we need to do is get a few of these bats going, but let’s be honest - we just played four games against a very good ballclub.
“You think of Cleveland, you think of offense, and they can score runs in a hurry. But their pitching is the key to that team, to their success.”
For the first six innings Sunday, pitching dominated both offenses, and the game rolled into the seventh inning scoreless. The Indians hadn’t gotten a man past second base against Bosio.
Seattle had fared only slightly better: Darren Bragg singled in the fourth inning, stole second base and went to third on Joey Cora’s fly ball. Perched there with one out, he watched right-hander Dennis Martinez throw a called third strike past Ken Griffey Jr., then retire Edgar Martinez on a line drive to center field.
After that, the Mariners didn’t get a runner into scoring position until there were two outs in the ninth inning.
Still, there were moments that took the breath away from a crowd of 56,883. They just weren’t produced by Seattle bats. Bosio matched Martinez zero for zero as the afternoon wore on, but he got one huge assist in center field from Griffey.
Albert Belle’s two-out, first-inning smash with a man aboard cleared the fence in center, but Griffey, timing his jump on the warning track, got an arm fully extended over the 8-foot wall and caught the ball.
“That’s a great play,” Piniella said.
It was also the second time this season Junior has taken a Kingdome home run away from the opposition - he robbed California’s George Arias of a three-run home run in April, in a game Seattle then won, 5-3. This time, he took two runs away from Cleveland and kept Bosio even into the seventh inning.
Unable to score by hitting the ball over Griffey, the Indians broke through in the seventh by hitting it in front of him. Two consecutive hard-hit singles up the middle chased Bosio after 94 pitches. When he walked off to a huge ovation, there was no score, but both Cleveland runners belonged to him.
One of them, Manny Ramirez, scored when Tony Pena greeted reliever Bob Wells with an RBI single. An inning later, Eddie Murray hit his first home run of the season - the 480th of his major league career - against Mike Jackson.
From there, the Indians countered with closer Jose Mesa. And Mesa, a perfect 10-for-10 with save opportunities this season, teased Seattle by giving up a one-out single to Martinez, then a two-out walk to Doug Strange.
Dan Wilson then grounded out to first base, and the Indians were 20-9.
xxxx Indians 2, Mariners 0 Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Lofton cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .331 Franco 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .330 Baerga 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .256 Belle lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .336 Murray dh 4 1 2 1 0 0 .227 MRamirez rf 4 1 1 0 0 3 .271 Espinoza 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .375 Thome 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .289 Kirby rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286 Pena c 4 0 2 1 0 1 .370 Vizquel ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .277 Totals 34 2 9 2 0 6 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Bragg lf 4 0 2 0 0 0 .286 Cora 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .210 Griffey Jr cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .261 EMartinz dh 4 0 1 0 0 0 .348 Buhner rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .277 Sorrento 1b 1 0 0 0 1 0 .265 a-BRHntr ph-1b 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 b-Strnge ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .267 DWilson c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .272 Sojo ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .241 RDavis 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .247 Totals 32 0 5 0 2 5 Cleveland 000 000 110 - 2 9 1 Seattle 000 000 000 - 0 5 0 a-struck out for Sorrento in the 7th. b-walked for Hunter in the 9th. E-Vizquel (1). LOBCleveland 7, Seattle 7. HR-Murray (1) off MJackson. RBIsMurray (14), Pena (8). SB-Bragg (2). CS-Sorrento (1). S-Vizquel. GIDPBelle. Runners left in scoring position-Cleveland 3 (Franco 2, Thome); Seattle 3 (Cora, EMartinez, DWilson). Runners moved up-Cora. DP-Seattle 1 (Cora, Sojo and BRHunter). Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA DeMrtnz W,5-2 6-2/3 3 0 0 1 3 91 4.06 Assenmacher 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 5 2.70 Tavarez 1 1 0 0 0 1 15 2.04 Mesa S,12 1 1 0 0 1 0 20 1.69 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Bosio L,3-2 6 6 1 1 0 4 94 2.76 BWells 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 3 1.29 TDavis 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 6 4.91 MJackson 1-1/3 2 1 1 0 1 21 4.91 Charlton 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 2.19 Bosio pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored-Assenmacher 1-0, BWells 2-1, TDavis 2-0, MJackson 2-0. HBPby Bosio (Baerga). T-3:08. A-56,883 (59,166).