Gordon’s Two-Hitter For Sox Makes Him 12-3 Against M’S
Tom Gordon pitched a career-best two-hitter and Jose Canseco hit a grand slam as the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 10-1 Thursday night.
Gordon (5-2) defeated Seattle for the sixth consecutive time and improved his career record against the Mariners to 12-3, including 7-0 in the Kingdome. Paul Sorrento homered with one out in the fifth inning, his 11th, to ruin Gordon’s no-hit bid. Sorrento also singled to lead off the eighth.
Gordon, who struck out four and walked two, got his fourth victory in a row since losing April 19 in Cleveland. It was his second complete game of the season.
Canseco gave the Red Sox a 6-0 lead against Salomon Torres (0-1) when he launched a 414-foot shot over the center-field fence with the bases loaded. It was Canseco’s 14th homer of the season.
Milt Cuyler hit two homers and Tim Naehring also homered for the Red Sox. Cuyler hit his first off Torres for a 1-0 Boston lead in the third, Naehring collected his fifth off Scott Davison in the seventh and Cuyler got his second off Davison in the eighth.
Jose Malave had an RBI single in the fourth for Boston, which got two runs in the sixth on Dwayne Hosey’s single and Mo Vaughn’s double.
Notes
Gordon’s last loss to the Mariners was 10-5 on Sept. 19, 1991, to Dave Burba in Seattle. … Gordon’s previous low-hit career game was a three-hitter on Sept. 2, 1990, against Seattle. … Gordon has 14 complete games in his career. … Canseco’s grand slam was the fifth of his career, the first by a Boston hitter this year and the sixth allowed by the Mariners this season. … It was the fourth time this season that Boston has hit four homers in a game, all in the last 15 games. … Mariners pitchers have given up 74 homers in 51 games this season. Only Detroit has given up more.
From goat to hero
In one of the most dramatic ninthinning comebacks of the season, Russ Davis was the goat, then the hero against the Baltimore Orioles - without knowing how close he came to watching the outcome from the bench.
It was Davis’ error in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday that pushed home the run that put Baltimore ahead 8-7. Then it was the third baseman who jumped highest in the bottom of the inning when Ken Griffey Jr. tied the game with a long homer to center field.
“Junior? Wow,” Davis said. “Nobody felt worse about that error or better about that home run.”
After Griffey’s homer, Edgar Martinez doubled and the Orioles intentionally walked Jay Buhner before pinch-hitter Brian Hunter singled to load the bases with one out. Manager Lou Piniella considered inserting pinch-runner Rich Amaral for Martinez at second.
“I didn’t for two reasons,” Piniella said. “If the game goes extra innings, they’d never pitch to Junior again with Richie batting behind him. And in the back of my mind I was thinking of pinch-hitting for Davis.”
After Dan Wilson grounded into a fielder’s choice at the plate, Davis’ spot came up with two outs. Piniella huddled with bench coach Lee Elia, who has worked with Davis on his hitting since spring training.
“This could be the at-bat that makes the difference,” Elia said.
Piniella stuck with his third baseman - and Davis did what he and Elia have worked on for 3-1/2 months. He drove a ball to right-center field for the winning single.
“They’ve worked and worked and worked with me on driving the ball the other way, and I can do it all day in batting practice,” Davis said. “It’s just a matter of mentally taking it into the game.”