Whiten’s Slam Gives M’S Dramatic Win Over Orioles

In the grand scheme of a major league season, the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles are now even.

The Orioles beat the Mariners in May on a last-pitch, two-out, ninth-inning grand slam - and on Thursday in the Kingdome, Seattle returned the favor.

Mark Whiten, playing for his third team in the past two months, beat Baltimore 9-6 with a last-pitch, two-out, ninth-inning grand slam against closer Randy Myers that sent a crowd of 24,915 chanting into the night.

“We are playing hard,” manager Lou Piniella said, “and we’re starting to get that feeling again … ” Off to a 4-0 start to this 10-game homestand, Seattle has crept to within five games of division-leading Texas and virtually deadlocked the American League wild-card derby - now a three-team knot of Chicago, Seattle and Baltimore.

Jay Buhner tried to put it in perspective.

“That’s as big a win as you can get,” he said. “What it took to win last year was guys picking up other guys the last six weeks. I just had one of the worst stinking nights of my career - I left 1,800 guys on base - and Mark took that off me.”

Buhner and his teammates had, indeed, stranded a few baserunners against the Orioles, and it appeared they were on the brink of losing for the 27th time this season in a game in which they’d scored at least five runs.

Buhner, for instance, struck out in the first inning with the bases loaded. So did Whiten, and in the ninth inning the Mariners seemed about to waste a career-best 5-for-5 night by Alex Rodriguez.

“I struck out three times, and I tried not to let it get me down,” Whiten said. “This was a chance to redeem myself.”

On Myers first pitch, a fastball, Whiten cleared the right field wall with his fourth home run in 12 games with Seattle.

“What a lift he’s given us,” Piniella said. “I told him when we got him, he was going to platoon in left field with Rich Amaral. Well, Richie’s platooning at second base now. Whiten is our left fielder.”

When Bob Wells was touched for a two-run home run by Brady Anderson in the fifth inning, Piniella yanked him, turning to Bobby Ayala.

Ayala inherited a 5-4 lead he took all the way into the seventh inning. .

Anderson, who had hit his 39th home run in the fifth off Wells, hit his 40th of the season against Ayala in the seventh to tie the game. Bonilla, who’d hit No. 20 in the first inning against Wells, hit No. 21 in the seventh against Ayala.

That put Baltimore ahead, 6-5.

Piniella went back to his bullpen, using Tim Davis and then Norm Charlton to hold Baltimore close.

Rodriguez then led off the ninth with his fifth hit, pushing his major league leading average to .373 and fanning the faint hopes of those who’d stayed around. Two outs later, the bases were loaded - briefly.

“It was a ball out over the plate and he crushed it,” O’s manager Davey Johnson said.