Probability Catches Up To M’S With So Much Against Seattle, White Sox Finally Get A Win, 7-6

The were so many reasons why the Mariners should have lost Sunday that they were fully prepared to - until the Chicago White Sox presented them with as many opportunities to win.

Talk about cosmic conflict. Small wonder it took them 10 innings to decide.

In the end, wasted chances and the last of a handful of mistakes beat Seattle, 7-6. And though the White Sox won only once in this four-game series, they were delighted - the victory snapped an eight-game losing streak.

“We needed this more than they did,” manager Terry Bevington said.

Probably true.

After winning their third in a row 24 hours earlier - all the games they’d played since losing Ken Griffey Jr. - the Mariners wanted their first four-game sweep of the Sox in Chicago. And they knew there were plenty of good reasons it probably wouldn’t happen:

Chicago hadn’t lost four in a row at home in 2-1/2 years.

Seattle was starting its shakiest pitcher, rookie Bob Wolcott, on a day when the bullpen’s short men were a bit ragged from work.

Edgar Martinez couldn’t fall asleep the night before and showed up groggy. Jay Buhner’s right thumb was hurting.

And Chicago slugger Frank Thomas was mad.

So there were enough excuses to fill a clubhouse, though Seattle chose not to mention any of them before this one started. Once it began, the White Sox never seemed to tire of dangling this game in front of Seattle’s eyes.

“It was there for us, we had it, we didn’t put it away,” manager Lou Piniella said.

Two rookie starting pitchers - Wolcott and James Baldwin - took turns putting the game on a tee and waiting to see which offense would seize it first.

The Mariners were handed a 1-0 lead, then a 2-1 advantage when Baldwin walked five men in the first two innings, more than he’d walked in any of his first 10 major-league starts.

Wolcott gave those leads up fast, and by the fifth inning he was gone and Chicago was on top 4-2.

“Too many stupid pitches,” Wolcott said. “I tried to throw a fastball low and away to Frank Thomas and left it where he could hit it.”

Thomas hit it out.

The Mariners pecked away, getting one run back when Darren Bragg singled, stole second base and scored on John Marzano’s RBI double, cutting the Sox’s lead to 4-3.

Rafael Carmona gave that run back, and Chicago led 5-3 after six innings.

A solo home run from Alex Rodriguez, his 14th, and a two-run homer from Paul Sorrento off reliever Larry Thomas - Sorrento’s first home run off a left-handed pitcher this season - put the Mariners on top in the seventh inning and made Piniella re-think his bullpen options.

Bobby Ayala had pitched in the past two games, Mike Jackson and Norm Charlton in two of the past three games.

And yet there the victory sat, waiting for Seattle to put away the final nine outs.

“We had it set up,” Piniella said. “Ayala and Jackson were going to work the eighth, Charlton the ninth. …”

It didn’t work.

Carmona got the one-run lead to the eighth inning, then handed off to Ayala.

After jumping ahead of the first batter he faced, Chad Kreuter, Ayala threw the first truly awful pitch of his comeback - an 0-2 forkball that refused to fork, hung belt high and became Kreuter’s third home run of the season.

Tie game.

Ayala finished the eighth and Jay Buhner led off the Seattle ninth inning with a double off Roberto Hernandez.

The gambler in Piniella took over. He didn’t have the pitching for a long game, so he went for the win in the ninth, pinch-running Rich Amaral at second base for Buhner. Hernandez pitched out of the jam. Amaral was left in scoring position.

Jackson and Lee Guetterman got through the ninth inning, and the Mariners were given yet another chance to win in the top of the 10th, when Dan Wilson led off with a walk and Joey Cora bunted him to second base.

Rodriguez tried to pull an outside slider, but grounded out.

“I’ve got to give us a better chance than that,” said Rodriguez, angry with himself.

Chicago intentionally walked Martinez to bring up Buhner’s spot in the lineup, which was occupied now by Amaral. Amaral shot a ground ball to the right side, but Thomas fielded it and got to the bag in time.

Whatever determination Seattle had left didn’t take long to lose. Guetterman got one out in the 10th, then gave up a single to Dave Martinez, walked Kreuter and threw a fastball that Ray Durham smacked down the right-field line for the winning double.

It was neither gut-wrenching, nor heartbreaking, but the Mariners weren’t pleased afterward. And neither was their manager.

Wolcott blamed himself. Rodriguez blamed himself. Guetterman, the veteran, dressed in silence, and Ayala, who doesn’t speak to the press after good games, certainly wasn’t going to talk after this one.

“A lot of chances,” Piniella said. “A lot of damned chances today. I’ll take three out of four here any trip in, but a sweep would have been something.”