M’S Racing Toward Top In Wild Card Victory Over Boston Defies Numbers As Benes, Fermin Show Way In 6-4 Win

The Boston Red Sox were reminded of the oldest two-word adage in baseball Tuesday - numbers lie.

On paper, Felix Fermin was a living, breathing out sitting at the tail end of Seattle’s lineup. And Andy Benes? He was a 6-foot-8 chunk of cannon fodder on the mound, matched against Cy Young Award candidate Tim Wakefield.

When they flipped off the lights after this one, however, Benes had beaten Boston, 6-4, Fermin had three hits and three runs scored and the Seattle Mariners - two games above .500 - were eyebrow deep in the American League wild card race.

“The thing you always know this time of year,” coach Lee Elia said, “is that anyone with a bat, anyone with a glove, anyone with a ball in his hand can beat you.”

When Benes and reliever Norm Charlton teamed for the win, Seattle joined Milwaukee at a half-game behind the Texas Rangers for the league’s wild card playoff spot. And because California lost, the Mariners will wake up this morning just 8-1/2 games behind the A.L. West leaders.

Acquired July 31 with precisely this kind of situation in mind, Benes started work in Fenway Park under the dark shadow cast by an immense earned-run average - 7.03.

“This was what we traded for, tonight,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. “That’s the Andy we wanted.”

Benes had been little more than a good-luck charm since his arrival, and though the Mariners had gone 14-12 in the first 26 games since his arrival, he had delivered only two of those. As the Mariners opened what appears to be the most important trip in franchise history, Benes matched Wakefield’s finesse with power and won a game he said he had to have.

“Every game now is important, every chance to pick up ground,” Benes said. “Every start I’ve made over here, I’ve pitched fairly well except for one (awful) inning. Tonight I limited the damage and this team just kept scoring runs for me. That’s what has been the most frustrating - this is one of the best offenses in the league, and I hadn’t given them the chance to win in my starts.”

Given leads of 2-0 and 3-1, Benes ran into his once-a-start bad inning in the fifth, when Boston scored three times to climb on top 4-3. But after Mo Vaughn’s RBI single put the Sox ahead, Benes gritted through another 2-1/2 innings, retiring the last seven batters he faced.

Seattle rallied to tie Wakefield in the sixth inning, scored the go-ahead run in the seventh and tacked on an insurance run in the ninth inning. Charlton - not closer Bobby Ayala - was asked to save this one. He did, facing just six men in two scoreless innings.

Fermin, the veteran shortstop who took a .201 average into the game, was given a start against knuckleballing Wakefield because manager Lou Piniella thought his short stroke might be a better match against a speciality pitcher.

“In the Dominican Republic, nobody throws one,” Fermin said, laughing at his experience facing a knuckler. “But we won tonight by doing the little things right. This time of year, that’s important.”

Fermin singled in the fifth inning and eventually scored on Joey Cora’s sacrifice fly. He singled again opening the seventh inning, scored again on a sac fly by Ken Griffey Jr.

And Fermin singled to open the Mariners’ ninth, was bunted to second base by Vince Coleman, then singled home by Cora.

“A crisp, well-played, well-pitched game,” Piniella said.

Asked if Seattle had picked up its intensity of late, Piniella smiled.

“If you can’t pick it up a notch this time of the year, the fuel tank is empty,” he said. “It’s not empty here. These kids feel it.”

‘It,’ of course, is a run for the playoffs. Granted, it took a rule change to make a 58-56 record good enough to contend for the league’s fourth playoff slot, but others - New York, Toronto, Kansas City and Oakland - would happily trade their numbers for Seattle’s today.