Mariners Triumph, But Find It Hard To Celebrate

The postgame celebration was somber after a victory Friday gave the Seattle Mariners the best 27-game start in franchise history.

What that victory also produced was one of the most devastating moments in team history - a spectacular defensive play on which Ken Griffey Jr. fractured his left wrist.

That he had singled, homered and scored twice earlier in what became an 8-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles won’t be remembered by teammates or the Kingdome crowd of 15,256. What will be recalled of this was that Griffey made what appeared to be a game-saving catch - and perhaps ended his season in the process.

“My team needed a win,” Griffey said when asked why he sprinted into the wall in right center field to rob Baltimore’s Kevin Bass of an extra-hit bid. “Now I’ll just sit on the side and cheer for awhile. If this team just plays hard, when I come back it will be a plus.”

“That’s probably the greatest catch I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t worth it,” Mike Blowers said. “What it reminds you is how lucky we’ve been to see him play the last six years without going down. Look at this clubhouse. We won a game - you think anybody cares?”

The injury came when Griffey had delivered one of his spectacular catches to help Randy Johnson preserve what at the time was a one-run lead. Positioned in left-center field, Junior out-ran the ball hit up the alley in right center left his feet and crashed into the wall, backhanding the ball but breaking the distal radius in his left wrist.

Griffey singled in the first inning, walked and scored from first base on Jay Buhner’s double in the third, then homered into the screen attached to the right field foul pole in the fifth inning - applauding the ball when it just did stay fair.

That gave Johnson a 2-0 lead, and left Griffey with 998 career hits. Griffey’s home run may not have rattled McDonald, but he walked the next hitter he faced, Buhner, and with two outs put a fastball in the wrong spot and watched Tino Martinez hit it far over the left field fence.

Seattle pulled away with a four-run seventh inning, and Johnson - with relief help from Steve Frey and Dave Fleming - ran his season record to 5-0.

Pitching swap

The Mariners recalled right-hander Tim Harikkala from Triple-A Tacoma, making him the 18th member of their pitching staff since the season started April 27.

To make room for Harikkala, the Mariners optioned left-hander Tim Davis, who started Seattle’s 15-6 victory over Boston on Wednesday, to Tacoma.