Carter Says Eight Is Enough For Mariners Slugger’s Two Homers Lead Blue Jays’ To 10-4 Victory And Ends Seattle’s Run

When Joe Carter hits home runs, they come in bunches.

Carter hit a pair of two-run homers Friday night and the Toronto Blue Jays snapped Seattle’s team record-tying eight-game winning streak with a 10-4 victory over the Mariners.

Carter leads the majors in home runs (301) and RBIs (1,077) in the last 10 years. After hitting three home runs in the last two games, he smiled when asked if he can tell when he’s going to get into a groove.

“I’m a very streaky hitter,” Carter said. “Once the home runs start coming, I just try and ride the wave.”

Carter did not hit a home run in Toronto’s first 11 games, but the 36-year-old slugger has four home runs in the Blue Jays’ last five games. His pair of two-run homers marked his 33rd multi-homer game in the majors.

Carter said his go-ahead home run in the sixth inning may be the start of a turnaround for the Blue Jays. He connected off Bob Wolcott (1-2) after Carlos Delgado walked to lead off the sixth inning.

“When you come back right after a team has tied the game, that is a killer,” Carter said. “That’s something other teams have been doing to us lately.”

Wolcott said he tried to overcompensate after walking Delgado.

“I needed to throw strikes and got too aggressive and threw one right in there for him (Carter),” he said.

With a 4-2 lead after seven innings, the Blue Jays reached Seattle reliever Bobby Ayala for three runs in the eighth and ninth innings. He has a 13.50 ERA after giving up 11 earned runs in 7-1/3 innings.

“We need to get him back on track,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella said.”The only way to do it is get him more work.”

John Olerud drove in two runs in the eighth for Toronto and Delgado hit a three-run homer in the ninth.

Edgar Martinez drove in all four runs for the Mariners on a double in the fifth and a two-run shot off Brian Bohannon in the ninth.

Pat Hentgen (3-1), who pitched six innings, struck out five and walked six and won his 50th career game. Bohanon got his first save.

The Mariners tied the game at 2 in the fifth. Joey Cora and Alex Diaz singled and Martinez extended his hitting streak to nine games with a two-run double.

In the first, Domingo Cedeno doubled to right and Carter lined a 3-1 pitch 392 feet over the left-field wall for a 2-0 lead.

Carmona down, Davis up

Right-hander Rafael Carmona was sent down to AAA Tacoma on Friday. With a need for another lefty in the bullpen, Piniella has elected to go with Tim Davis.

“I didn’t have any idea it was going to happen,” said Carmona. “I feel mad to be sent down. But at the same time, I feel positive. It’s a good chance to get some innings in.”

Carmona is likely to get plenty of work in a starting role at Tacoma.

Davis pitched in seven games with Seattle last season before having arthroscopic surgery to clean up his shoulder in July.

He was 0-1 with a 7.20 earned run average in four games this season at Tacoma.

Notes

Edgar Martinez took the club lead for doubles with 213, passing Alvin Davis… . Seattle’s Jay Buhner went 0-for-4, ending his eight game hitting streak… . The Mariners had eightgame winning streaks in 1991 and 1985.

Blue Jays 10, Mariners 4

Toronto AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Nixon cf 5 1 2 0 0 0 .284 Cedeno 2b 5 2 3 0 0 1 .462 CDelgado dh 4 3 2 3 1 0 .291 Carter lf 5 2 2 4 0 1 .299 Sprague 3b 4 1 0 0 1 1 .213 Olerud 1b 4 0 1 2 0 0 .212 Green rf 3 0 1 1 0 0 .184 O’Brien c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .250 AGonzalz ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 .291 Totals 35 10 12 10 2 3 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 4 1 1 0 1 0 .293 ADiaz lf 5 1 2 0 0 0 .212 Griffey Jr cf 4 1 1 0 1 0 .213 EMartinz dh 4 1 2 4 1 1 .339 Buhner rf 4 0 0 0 1 2 .271 Sorrento 1b 1 0 0 0 2 0 .000 a-RJrdn ph-1b 2 0 1 0 0 1 .214 RDavis 3b 5 0 0 0 0 4 .283 DWilson c 3 0 1 0 1 0 .278 ARodrigz ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .281 Totals 36 4 9 4 7 9

Toronto 200 002 033 10 12 0

Seattle 000 020 002 4 9 0

a-struck out for Pau.Sorrento in the 7th.

LOBToronto 4, Seattle 12. 2B-Cedeno (1), Green (3), EMartinez (9). HR-EMartinez (3) off Bohanon; CDelgado (4) off Ayala; Carter 2 (4) off Wolcott 2. RBIsCDelgado 3 (16), Carter 4 (13), Olerud 2 (9), Green (3), EMartinez 4 (13). SB- Griffey Jr 2 (3). S-AGonzalez. SFGreen. GIDPAGonzalez.

Runners left in scoring position-Toronto 3 (Cedeno, Carter, AGonzalez); Seattle 4 (Buhner, RJordan, RDavis, ARodriguez).

Runners moved up-CDelgado.

DP-Seattle 1 (ARodriguez and Sorrento).

Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Hntgn W,3-1 6 5 2 2 6 5 115 3.10 Risley 2/3 0 0 0 1 2 16 7.94 Bohanon S,1 2-1/3 4 2 2 0 2 33 7.45 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Wolcott L,1-2 7 6 4 4 1 0 104 6.23 Ayala 2 6 6 6 1 3 42 13.50 Inherited runners-scored-Bohanon 1-0.

IBBoff Hentgen (Sorrento) 1. HBPby Wolcott (O’Brien). WP-Hentgen.

T-2:59. A-32,189 (59,166).