M’S, Rangers Ring Up K’S By The Dozens Texas Wins Game That Sets Ml Mark With 31 Strikeouts

The game started with a strikeout and ended with one. There was so much swinging and missing Sunday at the Kingdome, they could have shut off the air conditioning and no one would have noticed.

The Mariners and Texas combined for a major league-record 31 whiffs, a club-record 18 by the visiting Rangers, who survived the impromptu K convention by taking a 4-2 decision and salvaging a split of the four-game series.

All-Star Game starter Randy Johnson recorded 14 strikeouts in seven innings, but the Mariners left-hander was a touch wild at times, walking five batters and hitting another.

After Johnson left, the game came down to a contest of bullpens, and again the Mariners came up short. It was a lost series for the local relievers, who collectively got hit hard in all four games.

Sunday, it was Bobby Ayala’s turn. He crumbled in the ninth inning, serving up a solo home run to the Rangers’ No. 9 hitter, Damon Buford, to break a 2-2 tie, and a sacrifice fly to Ivan Rodriguez for a cushion.

Yet Mariner manager Lou Piniella seems more impatient with any one who questions his bullpen than with the pitchers themselves.

“We expect those guys to pitch better out of the bullpen than they have the last 10 days or two weeks or whenever,” Piniella said. “Will we get it? I think so… . You people place too much importance on a series in July. So much can happen in 70 games. These games mean nothing.”

Mariners centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr. was given the day off to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral.

There was no save opportunity Sunday, but Johnson gave the Mariners ample room to win, aided by solo homers by Paul Sorrento and Jay Buhner. Johnson breezed through the first three innings, striking out the side in the first.

Johnson ran into trouble in the fourth, yielding run-scoring doubles to Juan Gonzalez and Mike Simms. He labored that inning and the next, then settled into his normal invincible groove, registering his last five outs on strikeouts. He was not happy about the outcome, and deflected talk about strikeouts by registering his displeasure.

Only four of the 20 batters who appeared in the game - Texas’ Will Clark and Seattle’s Joey Cora, Alex Rodriguez and Sorrento - avoided a strikeout.

Each team had just one inning where it didn’t whiff, the Mariners going unscathed in the first, the Rangers in the second.

“There were a lot of K’s today,” Piniella remarked.

And another L, as provided by the bullpen.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ON THE ROAD The Mariners open a two-game road trip at Oakland tonight. Game time is 7 p.m., with TV coverage on cable channel 25.