Mariners Defeated In Ninth

The battle between old friends Tony LaRussa and Lou Piniella was fought without conventional weapons Friday.

Whatever they had on hand, they threw at one another.

Oakland used five pitchers. Seattle used two infielders and a catcher in left field and sent five pinch-hitters to the plate.

And somewhere among the wild pitches and home runs, the errors and sacrifice bunts, the most reliable phase of Seattle’s team - its short relief squad - collapsed.

So did Oakland’s.

In rapid succession, Jeff Nelson and Bobby Ayala and Dennis Eckersley each blew save opportunities before Oakland pushed home a run in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Ayala and the Mariners, 9-8.

Piniella was left to wonder whether he should have taken his own pre-game advice.

“I told Tony, we should have just gone home from Anaheim,” Piniella said. “Nothing good ever happens to us here.”

Still hasn’t.

Losing a four-run lead in the fifth inning - then a two-run lead in the eighth - Seattle lost in the ninth when Rickey Henderson banged a bases-loaded single off the glove of drawn-in shortstop Alex Rodriguez.

“In any game you lose, you can say ‘what if,”’ the rookie said. “We can say it about a lot of plays tonight.”

In another city, the Mariners might have won this game. Certainly, they had their chances, building a 5-1 lead on home runs by Luis Sojo and Rodriguez and rallying for a late lead on Dan Wilson’s two-run pinch-hit single.

And then in the ninth inning, Tino Martinez hit a solo home run against Eckersley to tie the game at 8.Piniella wasn’t talking afterward, though he was steaming. For nine innings he’d pushed buttons, sent runners, made eight trips to the mound and gotten three hits and a walk from his five pinch-hitters.

Into the fifth inning, starter Chris Bosio had a 5-1 lead.

In that fifth, Bosio allowed one hit and gave up four runs. A couple of walks, a missed fly ball by Sojo, a sacrifice fly and Scott Brosius’ ninth home run and Oakland was even.

Piniella kept pushing buttons, LaRussa countering with reliever after reliever. The Mariners piled up baserunners and left too many of them.

And still, in an eight-inning rally that featured pinch-hit appearances by Joey Cora (single), Alex Diaz (walk) and Wilson (single), the Mariners pushed ahead, 7-5.

For once, Seattle obviously had the upper hand. Needing six outs for a win, Piniella went to Jeff Nelson - who hadn’t given up a run in his last 15-2/3 innings.

That streak lasted two batters into the eighth inning. Nelson faced four men and gave up three hits and a sacrifice bunt.

Enter Ayala, who gave up a sacrifice fly and Geronimo Berroa’s goahead single - blowing his sixth save of the year. LaRussa immediately went to Eckersley, and when The Tino hit his 24th home run in the ninth inning, Eckersley had his fifth blown save.

Tied at 8, Ayala went back to the mound and catcher Terry Steinbach tripled to open the ninth inning. Two walks and an out later, the Mariners drew the infield in, their outfield in, and watched Henderson rocket a ground ball that Rodriguez could only deflect.

Notes

Ken Griffey Jr., who broke his left wrist May 26, has been cleared for full workouts and could rejoin the Mariners by Aug. 20.

Seattle claimed left-hander Eric Gunderson - a former Mariner reliever - on waivers from the Mets, and he will join them in the Kingdome before the game Monday. A roster spot hasn’t not been cleared for him yet.