Tewksbury Shuts Down Mariners Shutout Is First For Seattle Since No-Hitter By Gooden Last May

Bob Tewksbury wasn’t overpowering, but he sure was effective.

Tewksbury pitched a six-hitter for his sixth career shutout as the Minnesota Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 Saturday night.

Relying on location instead of speed, Tewksbury (1-2) struck out five and walked one. He never faced more than four batters in an inning.

“I haven’t broken a radar gun since I was about 16 years old, but I was hitting my spots tonight,” said Tewksbury, who threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of 32 batters.

Minnesota catcher Terry Steinbach said Tewksbury “did a terrific job of keeping their powerful lineup off-balance the whole game.”

Brent Brede’s two-out double in the second inning drove home Greg Colbrunn with the first run.

Chuck Knoblauch hit a run-scoring single in the seventh, and Steinbach added an RBI double later in the inning to put Minnesota up 3-0. The Twins scored their final run on Steinbach’s RBI single in the ninth.

Seattle starter Dennis Martinez (1-1) allowed seven hits and three earned runs in 6-2/3 innings.

“Tewksbury was able to pinpoint the corners and he was in command all game long,” Martinez said.

“That sure was a great game if you’re the kind of baseball purist who enjoys great pitching,” Minnesota manager Tom Kelly said.

Tewksbury allowed only one baserunner to reach third base. Ken Griffey Jr. opened the seventh inning with a bloop double down the left-field line and advanced to third on Edgar Martinez’s groundout.

Tewskbury then struck out Jay Buhner and got Paul Sorrento on a groundout to end the threat. Buhner was ejected for arguing a called third strike with home plate umpire Larry Barnett.

“They’re probably all frustrated over there,” Tewksbury said, motioning toward the Seattle clubhouse. “But that’s my game, and it’s worked for me for 10 years.”

Notes

The Mariners hadn’t been shut out since May 14, 1996, when Dwight Gooden no-hit them… . Minnesota has won seven straight games at the Kingdome… . Alex Rodriguez’s 10-game hitting streak was snapped.

Mariners’ popularity soars

Further proof the Mariners have become one of the nation’s most popular teams comes from ticket sales for home games.

According to Ticketmaster, Mariners tickets have been sold to fans from 42 of the 50 United States.

Through the first three months of 1997, the Mariners internet site - www.mariners.org - has received an average of 65,807 hits a day.