Mariners Cut Deficit Down To One Junior Shows Senior Leadership As Seattle Wins In 11th To Pull Within One Game Of California
For only the second time in his seven-year career, Ken Griffey Jr. had a game-ending hit. And, for the Seattle Mariners, they’ve both come at exactly the right time.
On what was billed as the most important day in the Mariners’ 19-year history, Seattle got a game-tying pinch homer from Doug Strange in the ninth and beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 in the 11th on Griffey’s RBI single.
“I was just hoping to get a good piece of the bat on it, and I did,” said Griffey, who won a game in the ninth with a homer off John Wetteland of the New York Yankees on Aug. 24.
The victory moved Seattle within one game of California in the A.L. West. The Mariners also stayed one game in front of the New York Yankees in the wild card race.
As the game was being won by Seattle in such dramatic fashion, the city awaited the results of a referendum on whether to raise the sales tax to finance a new outdoor stadium. The Mariners’ owners said they would sell the team - and it might move to another city - if the measure didn’t pass.
“All of us have signed long-term contracts and all of us want to play in Seattle,” Griffey said.
Mariners manager Lou Piniella added, “I heard it’s close. I hope it passes.”
Up until the bottom of the ninth, it looked like a crowd of 20,410 would be disappointed.
But Jeff Russell walked Alex Diaz to open the inning, then struck out Warren Newsom before Strange, a former Ranger, hit the next pitch over the right-field wall, his second homer of the season.
“I’m not a home-run hitter,” Strange said. “I was just trying to hit the ball as hard as I possibly could.”
In the 11th, Strange singled with one out and went to second on a single by pinch-hitter Darren Bragg. After Joey Cora lined out to right field, Dennis Cook relieved Roger McDowell (6-4) and Griffey lined a 2-2 pitch off the glove of third baseman Luis Ortiz. The ball bounced into left field and Strange scored without a play at the plate.
Texas manager Johnny Oates said Griffey’s winning hit should have been an out.
“I could have caught that ball,” said Oates, a former major-league catcher. “Easy.”
Norm Charlton (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory. He struck out Ivan Rodriguez with two runners on to end the top of the 10th.
Texas starter Kevin Gross gave up two runs on seven hits and three walks in eight innings, striking out three, before Jeff Russell got his fourth blown save by failing to hold a 4-2 lead.
The Rangers dropped three games back in the wild card standings. Texas and Seattle play each other five more times - here Wednesday night and four games in Arlington next week.
The Mariners, Yankees and Rangers all have 10 games to play, while the Kansas City Royals, 2-1/2 games behind, have 11 to go. Texas now trails Seattle by three games.
“It’s just one loss,” Oates said. “I’m not concerned about how many teams are in front of or behind us. We just have to win as many as we can.”
Griffey hit his 13th homer of the season to lead off Seattle’s eighth, the 25th homer allowed by Gross this season. The Mariners got their first run in the sixth on a walk to Edgar Martinez, Tino Martinez’s double and Jay Buhner’s groundout.
Texas took a 1-0 lead in the first on Will Clark’s sacrifice fly, then made it 2-0 in the second when Rusty Greer doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Mike Pagliarulo’s groundout.
Mark McLemore homered in the seventh, his fifth of the year, for a 3-1 lead.
Notes
With six games left at the Kingdome, the Mariners are averaging 19,881 fans in 66 home dates, down 21 percent from last season, when they averaged 25,096 in 44 home dates. … Griffey’s homer was the 99th of his career in the Kingdome. He has 185 overall. … Strange is 10 of 29 with seven RBIs in a pinch-hitting role. … Seattle is eight games above .500 for the first time since Aug. 20, 1991. … The Mariners have won two straight, six of seven, nine of 11 and 10 of 14.
xxxx STADIUM MEASURE WINNING Rally at the polls: A measure to build a new stadium for the M’s looks like a winner./A1