A Day After Riding Randy, M’S Baffle K.C. With Andy

All of life is a matter of perspective.

When Johnny Damon hit the second pitch of the game out of the park Saturday night, Andy Benes could have seen that as a negative. Instead, Benes saw it as improvement - a month ago, someone had hit his first pitch of the game for a home run.

And if the difference was subtle, the rest of the night was not. A man chased in Baltimore after allowing four runs in the first inning of his last start, Benes pitched Seattle to the top of the American League wild card race by beating Kansas City 6-2.

A handful of heroes earned ovations from a crowd of 39,157 fans in the Kingdome - Tino Martinez hit a three-run home run, Jay Buhner followed it with a solo shot, little Alex Diaz returned to the lineup with a pair of hits and an RBI as the leadoff hitter.

Given everything that was at stake, however, the night belonged to Benes. He has had better beginnings, but rarely a better start.

“We started fast,” Royals manager Bob Boone said. “Damon hits one, then 20 batters later we get another run.”

In between Damon’s first-inning home run and his two-out, eighth-inning double, Benes gave the Royals exactly … no hits. At one point, he retired 18 consecutive batters.

“Crucial,” Buhner said afterward. “We need everybody if we’re going to win this thing, and after Andy’s last start, this was crucial.”

Now 4-1 since his July 31 acquisition from San Diego, Benes showed up for work Saturday pulling an unsightly 7.52 earned-run average. Five days earlier, the Orioles had pummeled him - and he’d needed 62 pitches to get three outs.

“Pitchers have to have short memories, especially after starts like that,” Benes said. “I’ve been tentative out there, not by design. I can’t explain it. I’ve had to look back on the good things I’ve done in the last six years, remember the bad times.

“I’m lucky to be on a very, very good baseball team. We scored four runs for Randy (Johnson) last night, six for me tonight. You can’t ask for more from an offense.”

After putting his team in that 1-0 hole, Benes watched his offense rally against Kansas City’s Mark Gubicza. Catcher Dan Wilson and Diaz drove in secondinning runs to put Seattle ahead, 2-1, and Benes became a different pitcher.

Given that lead, the right-hander didn’t allow the Royals a baserunner for the next 5-2/3 innings. By the time Damon doubled and scored on Tom Goodwin’s single in the eighth, the M’s were four outs from a win - and four runs ahead.

Tino Martinez’s third-inning home run, his 29th, put Seattle up 5-1, and Buhner followed that with his own 29th - a lightening-quick bolt into the leftfield foul pole.

“We’ve always believed we could win, going back to the end of last season when we got so hot just before the strike,” Martinez said. “I like our team, I like our position.”

The Mariners position? Their 64-61 record puts them a half game ahead of the New York Yankees in the run for the wild card berth, and a full game up on the Royals - who had a one-game lead when this series began Friday night.

“We need more than Randy and Andy,” manager Lou Piniella said. “If we’re going to win, everybody is going to have to contribute - all our starters, all our players.”

Notes

Randy Johnson turned 32 today, and he will awaken leading the league in strikeouts (237), tied for the lead in ERA (2.63) and with 14 wins - two behind Mike Mussina. … Tino Martinez’s 29th home run tied the Mariners singleseason record for homers by a first baseman, matching Alvin Davis’ 1987 mark.