No Moore Perfect Season For M’S Former Seattle Right-Hander Dazzles As Detroit Hammers Out 10-1 Victory

Mike Moore wasn’t sure during baseball’s 7 1/2-month strike that he would pitch again.

“It was tough,” Moore said Sunday night after pitching six strong innings in a 10-1 Detroit victory over the Seattle Mariners. “I have to honestly tell you it was to the point where I was ready to say, ‘Hey, if I’m going to get the summer off, let me know now.”’

After going 24-19 in two seasons for the Tigers, the 34-year-old right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts and a dozen innings.

Moore, who pitched for Seattle from 1982 through ‘88 and Oakland from ‘89 through ‘92, admitted he’s even surprised at his fast start because he’s always been a slow starter.

The 232-day strike didn’t help, either, he said.

“It’s hard to maintain, especially when you’re trying to throw,” Moore said.

“I don’t ever remember Mike throwing this good this early,” Detroit manager Sparky Anderson said. “He’s throwing good and he’s got command of all his pitches.”

Detroit’s hitters broke open a close game with a six-run fifth.

Outscored 23-3 in losing the first three games of the series, the Tigers went ahead 1-0 on Chris Gomez’s RBI single off Bob Wells (0-1) in the third.

They made it 3-0 in the fourth on Franklin Stubbs’ double and a sacrifice fly by Gomez.

After the Mariners scored on Tino Martinez’s RBI single in their fourth, the Tigers sent 11 batters to the plate off John Cummings and Kevin King for six runs on five hits and three walks.

Bob Higginson had an RBI single and Cecil Fielder had a sacrifice fly off Cummings. A throwing error by King allowed Higginson to score from third and John Flaherty doubled in the final two runs.

Gomez got his third RBI of the game when he homered off Ron Villone in the ninth inning.

“It was good to win and it was good to finally get some runs,” Gomez said.

Moore, who beat California on opening day, gave up one run on five hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out four.

Wells, a former Community Colleges of Spokane right-hander from Yakima, made his first major-league start, giving up three runs on five hits in four innings.”We’ll settle for three out of four,” manager Lou Piniella said. “It’s a good way to start the season.”