Mariners Bury Indians In Mismatch Seattle Ace Randy Johnson Outclasses Cleveland Journeyman

Matchups viewed on paper don’t mean much on the field, but this one looked so one-sided that the Cleveland Indians figured before the game they had one chance to win - catch Randy Johnson on an off-night and pound him early.

When that didn’t happen, and the Seattle offense broke loose, this game went about the way the oddsmakers would have figured, and the Mariners defeated the Indians 11-1.

“The one thing you can’t do against Randy is play catch-up,” Cleveland outfielder Dave Justice said.

The Indians weren’t sure how to avoid that - and subsequently did not.

Johnson, 14-2 with a 2.28 earned-run average, did what he has done almost routinely. He buried the opposing offense.

And journeyman Terry Clark, without a big-league win since April 1996, did about what was expected of him. He lost. But he did pitch into the seventh inning.

“Randy has become a pitcher with power, not just a power pitcher,” manager Lou Piniella said, “and that’s a tough combination to beat.”

Aware that games that look like mismatches on paper often aren’t, the Mariners pushed Clark hard from the first moment he took the mound. Joey Cora beat out an infield single to open the game - and Alex Rodriguez bunted him to second base.

Jay Buhner’s two-out single put Seattle ahead 1-0, and the Indians never did get even. And Johnson with a lead is an even nastier pitcher to face than Johnson in a tie game. The “Big Unit” struck out four of the first six batters he faced, and by the end of two innings was ahead 3-0.

” They’re a good fastball-hitting team, they’ve got speed and power - it was like facing the Mariners tonight,” Johnson said. ” You’ve got to pitch them careful, and I made the pitches I had to make to stop big innings. My best pitches came with men on base.”

And the Mariners kept pecking away on the scoreboard, adding to the lead all night, then finishing it off when Russ Davis cleared the bases with a two-out, three-run double in the ninth inning.

“Every time Randy goes out there, you feel you’ve got a pretty good chance to win. You give him 11 runs, I don’t think he can lose,” Piniella said.

Asked if there were anyone Piniella could compare his left-hander with, the manager had to go back 20 years.

“Ron Guidry was 25-3 in 1978 with the Yankees,” Piniella said. “But Randy’s gone well beyond that one season.”

Indeed, Johnson is 39-4 in his past 43 decisions - and 99-42 since opening day 1991.

After giving Johnson a 1-0 first-inning lead, the Mariners’ attack kept pushing.

Cora and Cruz delivered second-inning RBI singles - for Cruz, his 31st RBI in 42 games - and the Indians countered with a third-inning run on doubles by Pat Borders and Tony Fernandez.

A routine ground ball that was misplayed by the Indians helped the Mariners take a 6-1 lead in the fifth.

After Ken Griffey walked with one out, Edgar Martinez grounded to shortstop. Omar Vizquel fielded the ball and flipped to Fernandez at second to start a routine double play, except Fernandez dropped the ball and both runners were safe. Buhner singled home one run, his 75th RBI of the season, Paul Sorrento doubled home a second and Dan Wilson pushed home the third run of the inning with a fly ball.

Pitching on five days’ rest after a 154-pitch complete game, Johnson went seven innings and struck out 11 Indians - the 79th time in his career he’s struck out at least 10 in a game, the 11th time this year in 21 starts.