Padres Take Walk Past Mariners, 6-5 Rodriguez Leaves Game Early With Injury To Ribs

Mike Timlin forced home the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning walk to Quilvio Veras, and the Seattle Mariners lost to the San Diego Padres 6-5 Wednesday night.

Seattle, whose A.L. West lead over Anaheim was cut to two games, led 5-3 after five innings but blew a save for the 22nd time in 53 chances. The Mariners also lost All-Star shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who left with a rib injury in the fifth.

San Diego scored its first four runs on homers off Omar Olivares: Ken Caminiti’s solo shot in the second, Steve Finley’s two-run drive in the fifth and Wally Joyner’s solo drive in the sixth.

San Diego, which finished interleague play 8-8, tied the score in the seventh off Paul Spoljaric on an RBI groundout by Tony Gwynn, who was 0 for 5.

Timlin (4-4) gave up singles to Mark Sweeney, Chris Gomez and John Flaherty with two outs in the eighth, then walked Veras on a 3-2 pitch.

Both Timlin and Spoljaric were obtained in the July 31 trade with Toronto that sent Jose Cruz Jr. to the Blue Jays.

Dario Veras (2-0), the fourth of six Padres pitchers, got two outs for the victory. Trevor Hoffman got his 33rd save in 39 chances, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth by retiring pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez on a popup.

Ken Griffey Jr. walked with two outs in the ninth and stole second. Hoffman then fanned Dan Rohrmeier, who was batting in the majors for the first time.

Seattle, 7-9 in interleague play, scored five runs in the fifth on Dan Wilson’s two-run single, a throwing error by Caminiti at third, Griffey’s sacrifice fly and Jim Bruske’s wild pitch.

Seattle, already without No. 1 starter Randy Johnson and third baseman Russ Davis because of injuries, lost Rodriguez with a mild strain of his lower right rib cage.

Rodriguez, who missed 14 games in June because of a bruised chest, was hurt when he lined a pitch off Paul Menhart’s left foot and then slid into first to beat the throw. Menhart also left the game.

Olivares allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings. Menhart gave up one run and two hits.

Notes

The Mariners recalled right-handers Ken Cloude and Bob Wolcott from Double-A Memphis. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Mariners designated second baseman Brian Raabe for assignment. Rohrmeier, 31, and Raabe, 29, were Pacific Coast League all-stars this season. Rohrmeier hit .297 with 33 home runs and 120 RBIs for Tacoma.

A crowd of 27,713 showed up for Seattle’s final interleague game, giving the Mariners an average of 44,691 fans for eight interleague home contests. They’re averaging 38,077 in 62 home games against A.L. clubs… . Gwynn was 0 for 3 against Olivares, and is 1 for 20 against him in his career… . Quilvio Veras attempted to score from third with two outs when Spoljaric’s pitch bounced away from Wilson behind the plate. But in a replica on what happened to Griffey in an Aug. 23 loss to the Yankees, the ball caromed off an advertising sign straight back to the plate, where Wilson tagged out Veras.

Padres 6, Mariners 5

San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

QVeras 2b 3 0 2 1 1 1 .274 SFinley cf 4 1 1 2 0 0 .251 Gwynn dh 5 0 0 1 0 1 .372 Caminiti 3b 3 1 1 1 2 1 .288 Joyner 1b 5 1 2 1 0 1 .336 GVaughn lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .205 MkSweeney rf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .283 CrJones rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .240 Gomez ss 4 0 1 0 0 2 .255 Flaherty c 3 2 2 0 1 0 .266 Totals 35 6 12 6 4 6 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 4 0 1 0 1 d0 .305 RKelly lf 4 0 0 0 1 1 .279 Griffey Jr cf 3 0 0 1 1 1 .309 EMartinez dh 3 0 0 0 1 2 .327 2-Tinsley pr-dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 .218 b-Rohrmeier ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 ARodriguez ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 .300 1-Sheets pr-ss 1 1 1 0 0 0 .250 Buhner rf 4 1 1 0 0 2 .241 Sorrento 1b 1 1 0 0 3 0 .270 DaWilson c 3 1 1 2 0 0 .266 Gates 3b 2 1 0 0 1 0 .238 a-Ibanez ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .143 Amaral 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .272 Totals 29 5 5 3 8 7 San Diego 010 021 110 - 6 Seattle 000 050 000 - 5 a-popped out for Gates in the 8th. b-struck out for Tinsley in the 9th.

1-ran for Rodriguez in the 5th. 2-ran for E.Martinez in the 8th.

E-Caminiti (19). LOB-San Diego 8, Seattle 8. 2B-MkSweeney (7), Sheets (1), Buhner (18). HR-Joyner (11) off Olivares; SFinley (25) off Olivares; Caminiti (21) off Olivares. RBIs-QVeras (43), SFinley 2 (86), Gwynn (106), Caminiti (73), Joyner (74), Griffey Jr (127), DaWilson 2 (67). SB-Griffey Jr (14), DaWilson (7). CS-Cora (6). S-SFinley, Sheets. SF-Griffey Jr. GIDP-GVaughn, Griffey Jr.

Runners left in scoring position-San Diego 4 (SFinley 2, MkSweeney, Gomez); Seattle 6 (EMartinez 2, Rohrmeier, Gates, Ibanez 2).

Runners moved up-Gwynn.

DP-San Diego 2 (Joyner, Gomez and Menhart), (Flaherty and QVeras); Seattle 2 (Cora and Sorrento), (ARodriguez, Cora and Sorrento).

San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Menhart 4 2 1 1 1 2 49 4.13 Cunnane 0 2 4 2 2 0 17 5.59 Bruske 2 1 0 0 2 1 40 4.04 DVeras W,2-0 1 0 0 0 1 2 18 5.19 TiWorrell 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 12 4.38 Hoffman S,33 1-1/3 0 0 0 1 1 17 2.84 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Olivares 6 8 5 5 2 4 98 4.81 Spoljaric 1-1/3 1 0 0 1 0 13 3.57 Timlin L,4-4 1/3 3 1 1 1 0 21 3.53 Charlton 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 2 16 7.27 Menhart pitched to 1 batter in the 5th, Cunnane pitched to 4 batters in the 5th, Bruske pitched to 1 batter in the 7th, DVeras pitched to 1 batter in the 8th, Olivares pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-Cunnane 1-1, Bruske 3-3, DVeras 1-0, TiWorrell 1-0, Hoffman 3-0, Spoljaric 1-1, Charlton 3-0.

IBB-off Spoljaric (Caminiti) 1, off Bruske (Sorrento) 1. HBP-by TiWorrell (DaWilson), by Olivares (QVeras). WP- Bruske.

T-3:21. A-27,713 (59,084).