Error, Mistake Derail M’S, 6-5

Everyone in baseball makes errors. Most make mistakes, too - not the same thing at all.

On Saturday one of each was enough to turn another close game for the Seattle Mariners into just another loss, this one to the Boston Red Sox, 6-5.

The error was Joey Cora’s. The mistake Bob Milacki’s. When both came in the fifth inning, a 2-1 Seattle lead turned to dust, and the Mariners spent the rest of the afternoon scrambling to catch up.

In the end, they came close enough to remind everyone on the club just what a difference one mistake or one error can mean to a team struggling to find consistency.

The starting pitcher de jour at the Kingdome was Milacki, the 31-year-old journeyman right-hander. Mixing a fastball, change and a breaking pitch, Milacki held the Red Sox to one run over the first four innings, and a pair of RBIs by Ken Griffey Jr. had Seattle on top 2-1.

“What I wanted as much as anything was to keep us in the game and go six, seven, eight innings,” Milacki said. “Give the bullpen a break …”

Instead, after a pair of one-out singles in the fifth, Milacki was betrayed by execution - first Cora’s, then his own. On what might have been an inning-ending double play grounder, Cora tried to flag down a ground ball to his left, pivot and throw to second base.

Starting his turn an instant too soon, Cora had the ball glance off his glove for an error that allowed the tying run. When Milacki struck out the next hitter, John Valentin, there were two outs, not three.

Next up: Mo Vaughn, the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player.

Manager Lou Piniella trotted to the mound for a conference. Lefty reliever Lee Guetterman was ready, but Piniella stayed with Milacki.

“We talked about what we wanted to do with Vaughn, and I told him if we fell behind in the count, we’d walk him,” Piniella said. “If we could get him to chase our pitch, fine …”

Milacki, working carefully, got ahead in the count, 1-2. The change-up he’d thrown earlier seemed the perfect pitch to fool Vaughn.

“I wanted it in the dirt but I pushed it, I left it up in the strike zone,” Milacki said. “I knew as soon as I let it go.”

So did Vaughn, whose eyes widened just before he let fly a swing that sent that changeup an estimated 401 feet into the upper deck in right field.

“That wasn’t 401 feet,” Griffey said. “That thing was killed.”

However far it went, when the ball returned to earth, Boston was ahead 5-2 and Seattle was in a familiar position - needing to play catch-up.

Seattle had worked hard to get a 1-0, then a 2-1 lead. Cora walked in the first, stole second, scrambled to third on a fly ball, then scored on the first of two doubles by Griffey.

After Boston tied it on one swing, Tim Naehring’s homer, the Mariners went to ‘little ball’ again. Cora doubled to open the third, and came in to score on back-to-back infield ground outs.

Vaughn made two runs seem insignificant, and when Boston added anther run in the sixth, chasing Milacki, a 6-2 lead looked big behind Tim Wakefield.

“The one thing we know from playing (Seattle) this season is that no lead is safe,” Sox manager Kevin Kennedy said. Doubles by Griffey and Sorrento in the sixth made it 6-3. Homers by Jay Buhner (No. 19) and Russ Davis (No. 5) in the eighth made it 6-5.

The comeback faltered against reliever Heathcliff Slocumb, who retired the last four in order, striking out Alex Rodriguez and pinch-hitter Doug Strange to end the game.

Thanks to inconsistent pitching, five runs weren’t enough. “When the team earned-run average is about six, five runs isn’t going to be enough in a lot of games,” Piniella said.

Red Sox 6, Mariners 5

Boston AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Hosey lf 3 1 0 0 1 0 .224 JnValentn ss 4 0 0 0 1 1 .290 MVaughn 1b 4 1 3 3 1 0 .359 Canseco dh 5 0 1 0 0 2 .272 Naehring 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .347 Stanley c 3 1 0 0 1 1 .272 Malave rf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .219 Selby 2b 4 1 2 0 0 0 .294 Cuyler cf 2 1 1 0 1 0 .206 Totals 33 6 9 5 5 5

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 2 2 1 0 1 0 .227 a-ARdrgz ph-ss 2 0 0 0 0 2 .349 Bragg lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .270 b-BRHntr ph-lf-1b 1 0 1 0 0 0 .357 d-Strnge ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .205 Griffey Jr cf 4 1 2 2 0 1 .313 EMartinz dh 2 0 0 0 2 1 .342 Buhner rf 4 1 1 1 0 2 .304 Sorrento 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0 .297 c-Amrl ph-lf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .232 RDavis 3b 3 1 1 1 0 1 .247 Marzano c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .222 Sojo ss-2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .239 Totals 33 5 8 5 3 8

Boston 010 041 000 - 6 9 0 Seattle 101 001 020 - 5 8 1

a-struck out for Cora in the 7th. b-doubled for Bragg in the 7th. c-lined out for Sorrento in the 8th. d-struck out for Hunter in the 9th. E-Cora (5). LOBBoston 7, Seattle 6. 2B-Malave (2), Cora (8), BRHunter (2), Griffey Jr 2 (12), Sorrento (7). HR-Buhner (19) off Stanton; RDavis (5) off Stanton; MVaughn (21) off Milacki; Naehring (6) off Milacki. RBIsMVaughn 3 (59), Naehring (19), Malave (6), Griffey Jr 2 (46), Buhner (53), Sorrento (29), RDavis (18). SB-Hosey (6), Cora (5), Griffey Jr (7). CS-Cuyler (3). S-Hosey. GIDPJnValentin, Buhner, Marzano.

Runners left in scoring position-Boston 2 (Canseco, Naehring); Seattle 4 (Griffey Jr 2, Sorrento, RDavis).

Runners moved up-Canseco, Selby, Bragg 2, Griffey Jr.

DP-Boston 2 (JnValentin, Selby and MVaughn), (JnValentin, Selby and MVaughn); Seattle 1 (Sojo, Cora and Sorrento).

Boston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Wkfld W,4-5 6-1/3 5 3 3 3 3 93 5.09 Stanton 1-1/3 3 2 2 0 3 25 4.67 Slocumb S,8 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 2 17 2.83

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Milacki L,1-2 5-1/3 8 6 2 2 2 92 5.02 Guetterman 1 1 0 0 2 0 17 16.20 MJackson 1-2/3 0 0 0 0 2 27 5.18 Carmona 1 0 0 0 1 1 10 3.20

Inherited runners-scored-Stanton 1-0, Guetterman 1-0, MJackson 2-0.

IBBoff Carmona (MVaughn) 1. HBPby Wakefield (RDavis), by Wakefield (Sojo), by Carmona (Cuyler).

T-2:54. A-34,822 (59,166).