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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Triple Play Can’t Save Fumbling M’S Blue Jays Use 3 Errors In 8th To Score 3 Runs In 4-1 Win

Larry Larue Tacoma News Tribune

On a night when the Seattle Mariners turned the ninth triple play in franchise history, their manager proclaimed the game the ugliest he’d ever seen.

Lou Piniella being 51 years old, that covers a lot of games. And it still wasn’t a tough call Thursday.

Five defensive errors, the failure to lay down a bunt and two costly baserunning blunders - the last one ending a bases-loaded threat in the ninth inning - forced a 4-1 victory upon the Toronto Blue Jays.

A crowd of 18,616, treated to a masterful pitchers duel for seven innings, turned surly over the final two as the Mariners turned a marvelous game into bad burlesque.

“That’s the worst game of baseball I’ve ever watched,” Piniella said. “I’ve never seen so many mistakes - there’s just no explanation for some of this.”

A few minutes earlier, Piniella had made the same point to his team. Only louder, and with far more colorful language.

He had his reasons:

Three of Seattle’s five errors came in the eighth inning, torpedoing starter Tim Belcher and pushing home the three unearned runs that broke a 1-1 tie.

After Jay Buhner’s mammoth home run in the seventh inning tied the game, Mike Blowers was asked to bunt runner Chad Kreuter, who had walked, into scoring position. Blowers bunted into a fielder’s choice, forcing Kreuter at second.

A moment later, on a hit-andrun, Darren Bragg singled, but when Roberto Alomar made a diving stop on the ball at second base, he hopped up and threw Blowers out trying to go from first to third base.

With one out and the bases loaded in the ninth inning, pinchhitter Richie Amaral lifted a fly to right field and the runner at third base, Tino Martinez, tagged up. Coach Sam Perlozzo held him up on the throw to the plate - but Kreuter, starting at second base, came flying into third. Martinez, with no where to go, was easily out at the plate to end the game.

The triple play came in the ninth.Parts of it.As for the physical errors, they were almost as bizarre - and unexpected - as the triple play Seattle started in the Toronto ninth inning.

Belcher, tiring, gave up back-toback singles to rookies Shawn Green and Alex Gonzalez and was lifted for reliever Jeff Nelson.

On Nelson’s first pitch, catcher Angel Martinez tried to bunt the runners over but popped the ball to the mound. Nelson let it drop, fielded it on one hop and fired to shortstop Luis Sojo as second base.

Sojo tagged Green, stepped on the base to force Gonzalez and threw to first to get Martinez.