Tino Martinez Powers Another Comeback For M’S This Time, His 3-Run Homer Beats Tigers 10-6

Jay Buhner had been down this road often enough to recognize the signs.

“When we lost the first two games of this homestand, it would have been easy to let the whole thing get away from us,” Buhner said. “With all the injuries, the tough losses, it would have been easy.”

The Seattle Mariners don’t do anything easy. They put on another rally and came away with a 10-6 victory over Detroit on Tuesday after spotting the Tigers a 5-1 lead. The win allows Seattle to break even on its six-game homestand.

By stealing their second win in as many days from the Tigers, the Mariners packed a two-game winning streak and headed for Milwaukee, leaving one teammate - Chad Kreuter - behind while flying to meet their newest teammate, outfielder Warren Newson.

“We deserve to get hot, we need to get hot and we’re getting another bat to help,” Buhner said of the trade that sent a minor-leaguer to be named to Chicago for Newson. “The dog days of summer are coming up.”

The dog days - and the summer - might have slipped away in Seattle’s homestand had they not won three of the past four games. On Sunday night, they stood eight games behind the American League Westleading California Angels - and behind Texas and Oakland, to boot.

On Monday, Tino Martinez hit a 10th-inning grand slam as the Mariners came from behind twice to beat Detroit, 10-6.

On Tuesday, in front of a Kingdome matinee crowd of 14,667, Seattle roared back again to snatch another win.

“We struggle for runs for weeks and then score 10 in back-to-back games,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Maybe the bats are waking up.”

Mariners bats snoozed early, when starter Tim Belcher was hammered by an extra-base hit barrage and fell behind 5-1 in the top of the fourth inning. Before the Tigers came to bat again, however, they trailed, 6-5.

Buhner, Doug Strange, Luis Sojo and Dan Wilson opened Seattle’s fourth with hits that cut the Tigers’ lead to 5-3. Joey Cora singled home another run, Rich Amaral got the tying run home on a ground ball and Edgar Martinez doubled home Cora.

Seattle led 6-5.

“We fight back,” Piniella said, shaking his head. “It would be easier if we didn’t always have to, but this team does fight back.”

Belcher (5-5) worked a scoreless fifth inning and then departed, giving way to reliever Jeff Nelson - who overpowered Detroit. In three scoreless innings, Nelson struck out seven batters, a career high.

By the time Nelson handed off to Bobby Ayala, the Tigers were finished. Tino Martinez saw to that.

“Let’s see: he had a grand slam the day before the All-Star break, he had another one (Monday), and today he hit a three-run home run,” Piniella said. “That’s good production. That’s damned good timing.”

Martinez’s three-run shot in the sixth inning not only finished Detroit, it left the 27-year-old first baseman sitting atop the best numbers of his major-league career.

Batting 41 points above his career average of .254, he has matched his career high with 20 homers and surpassed his previous single-season RBI total (66) by getting to 67 RBI in just 74 games.

“Where would we be without him?” Piniella asked. “I don’t want to think about it.”

Seattle made Martinez a take-it-or-walk offer in spring training, a one-year, $1 million contract that Martinez took. All Seattle’s deals should work out so well.

“We’re in position to make a run and get right back in this thing, but two straight wins aren’t enough,” Buhner said. “We need to win six of eight, get something going. We’ve been in first place, we’ve been in last place this year, and any team in this division can win this. Including us.”

Stadium pact close

A tentative agreement on a new ballpark - a deal that would keep the Mariners in Seattle for at least 20 more years - has been reached by King County Executive Gary Locke and the team, Locke said.

Details will be outlined for the Metropolitan King County Council before Friday’s vote on whether to seek voter approval for an 0.1 percent sales-tax increase to cover Kingdome repairs and a new baseball stadium.