Mariners Patch Together Another Win; Buhner Out

If the Seattle Mariners ever lose everyone, they’re going to be unbeatable.

“We are resilient,” Lou Piniella said - one of his rare managerial understatements. “We’ve lost some key players, and these kids just don’t give up.”

The Mariners lost Randy Johnson 26 games ago. They are 14-12 without him.

They lost Chris Bosio 18 games ago. Seattle has gone 10-8 since then.

And on Wednesday, with Jay Buhner down with an injured right thumb - for how long, no one is certain - the Mariners came from behind to beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-3.

Minus Buhner, they’re 1-0.

“We’ve won games with offense, we’ve won games with pitching, tonight we got one with a little of both and some nice defense,” Piniella said. “We just went through Cleveland, Kansas City and Minnesota and came out with a 5-4 record. I’ll take that.”

He got it in large part because Bob Wolcott, who hasn’t had two good - or two bad - consecutive starts in a month was due for a good one, and delivered.

“It’s a matter of concentration, of studying the hitters and going into a game knowing how you’re going to start an at-bat, how you’re going to try to finish a hitter off,” Wolcott said. “It’s mental, and tonight I did all that.

“I’ve had no problem having a good outing, my problem has been putting two of them back-to-back. The mark of a good starting pitcher is consistency, running off three, four, five good games in a row. When I’ve had good games, they’ve been great. And my bad games have been pathetic.”

Over the past month, Wolcott (5-6) has had four marvelous games, and in those starts he has allowed five earned runs in 23-1/2 innings - numbers good for a 1.93 earned-run average.

He has spaced three dreadful games between those starts, and in those he has allowed 18 runs in 10-2/3 innings - producing a 15.19 ERA.

Against the Twins his strategy was simple: Keep the ball down and force hitters to hit balls up the middle by keeping fastballs away. The result? Ken Griffey Jr. set a team record by catching 11 fly balls in center field, one short of the major league record.

For all that, Wolcott was trailing, 2-1, after six innings.

“He gave up a bloop double and a ground ball that got through the infield for a triple and we were behind,” Piniella said. “You hold a team to two runs in this park, you’re pitching well.”

Wolcott’s reward came in the seventh inning, when Alex Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 consecutive games with a solo home run off Brad Radke.

“He got ahead of me 0-2, then tried to get me to chase a couple of outside pitches and I didn’t,” Rodriguez said. “He threw a change-up and missed, and it was 3-2. Then he shook off a sign, and I just had the feeling he was going to try a slider.

“He did, and I hit it the other way.”

And out - his 12th home run.

Two-out singles by Edgar Martinez and Paul Sorrento brought up Dan Wilson, who earlier had extended his own hitting streak to 10 games. In the seventh, Radke left a fastball up and Wilson doubled into left field, driving in both runners for a 4-2 lead.

From there it could have been easy. But if you’ve followed this team at all, you know better.

When a tiring Wolcott faltered in the seventh inning, reliever Lee Guetterman came in, threw three pitches and got a double play ground ball to end the inning.

Mike Jackson started the eighth inning, and Rodriguez threw a ball away for an error that led to an unearned run that made it 4-3. Jackson got out of the eighth inning with another double play ground ball.

Griffey gave Seattle an insurance run with a solo homer in the ninth, his team-leading 22nd of the year.

Buhner’s status

The Mariners will learn today whether they’ll get Jay Buhner back next week - or not until late July.

Buhner hurt his right thumb sliding into third base in Tuesday’s game, and by Wednesday the thumb was so painfully swollen he could not bend it to touch his fingers.

He’ll be examined in Seattle Thursday by team physician Dr. Larry Pedegana, and the possibilities don’t thrill manager Lou Piniella.

“As I understand it, if it’s just a sprain, he’ll miss one week,” Piniella said. “If it’s a torn ligament or a broken bone, it would be six weeks.”