Walks Give M’S No Relief Bullpen Failure Hands Boston An Advantage Greater Than Seattle’s Ninth-Inning Rally

A four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning had the Seattle Mariners faithful on their feet and screaming Sunday afternoon.

Problem was, Seattle’s relief pitching gave up two runs in the top of the ninth and the Mariners comeback drive fell a run short as the Boston Red Sox posted a 7-6 victory in front of 21,813 spectators in the Kingdome.

The late rally overcame the troubles created by Chris Bosio’s poor start, but couldn’t make up for two walks to begin the top of the ninth inning.

After working two effective innings, Lee Guetterman, making his second appearance since being recalled from Tacoma, walked Lee Tinsley and John Valentin to start the ninth inning.

Bobby Ayala came on to strike out Mo Vaughn, but a run-scoring groundout by Jose Canseco and an RBI single from Mike Greenwell made it 7-2 Boston.

“Those weren’t his (Ayala’s) runs, they scored because of walks,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Walks hurt us.”

Having pushed the lead to five runs, Boston manager Kevin Kennedy sent Joe Hudson to the mound instead of closer Rick Aguilera in the bottom of the ninth.

Doug Strange, Seattle’s third consecutive pinchhitter, doubled to move Vince Coleman, who reached on a fielder’s choice, around to third. An RBI groundout by Warren Newson and walk to Ken Griffey Jr. forced Kennedy to bring in Aguilera, who had picked up the save in the 4-3 victory Saturday.

But as impressive as Aguilera has been for the Red Sox, Edgar Martinez has been equally good for Seattle.

Martinez drove Aguilera’s second pitch over the left-field wall to make it 7-6.

Aguilera finally closed the door by catching Jay Buhner looking at strike three to end the game. It was the third strikeout of the game for Buhner, who broke out of an 0-for-16 slump with a single in the sixth.

“He’s (Buhner) been doing his work,” Piniella said. “The only thing I can do is give him a day off or two.”

Bosio’s poor start sparked the Red Sox charge to a 4-0 lead after two innings.

Bosio’s control was nowhere near what it had been in his past two starts, both victories.

“He wasn’t locating the ball as well as he has the past few games,” Piniella said. “Because of it, they hit him a little bit.”

Two first-inning walks led to a run when Greenwell singled. It was Bosio’s control within the strike zone that hurt him in the second. Three consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly by Tinsley made it 2-0.

The big blow came off the bat of Vaughn. On a two-strike count, Vaughn crushed a double to the wall between Griffey and Buhner, scoring two runs.

“I just couldn’t get the damn ball down. I think I had Mo set up to get a ground ball,” Bosio (8-6) said. “I tried to dead-fish him (throw a change up) away. The ball stayed up. He got the pitch he wanted and drove it into the gap.”

The damage meant the Mariners had to climb out of an early hole for a second consecutive night.

“It puts our guys in a tough spot to come back from,” Bosio said. “Everybody felt in the back of our minds that we could come back and we did.”

Seattle hit the ball all day, scattering 12 hits, 10 off Boston starter Rheal Cormier (6-3).

Double plays stymied the Mariners offense in the first, second and third innings.

“It (the Boston defense) made it a little easier for their lefty (Cormier),” Piniella said.

And even though Seattle’s leadoff batter reached first every inning from the second to the fifth, only one runner advanced to second base.

Seattle didn’t put a run on the board until Felix Fermin doubled home Luis Sojo in the seventh to make it 5-1.

Griffey, who went 3-for-4, hit his first home run since May 26, the night he shattered his left wrist, to lead off the eighth and create some optimism.

The winning hopes continued until Buhner was rung up and Seattle had fallen three games behind Texas in the race for the American League wild-card spot.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: A.L. WILD CARD RACE W L Pct. GB Texas 56 50 .528 - New York 53 52 .505 2-1/2 Seattle 53 53 .500 3 Milwaukee 52 53 .494 3-1/2 Kansas City 50 53 .485 4-1/2 Oakland 50 58 .463 7 Baltimore 49 57 .462 7 Toronto 46 59 .438 9-1/2