Red Sox Decision Mariners Rodriguez Sets Seattle Hit Record, Griffey Belts 43rd In 7-5 Defeat

Thu., Sept. 5, 1996

Associated Press

Rudy Pemberton doubled twice and drove in two runs as the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 7-5 Wednesday night.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 43rd homer and drove in four runs for Seattle, but struck out with two runners on base in the ninth.

Major league batting leader Alex Rodriguez set a Mariners record for hits in a season with 193, and also extended his hitting streak to 20 games.

The Red Sox remained 6-1/2 games behind New York in the A.L. East and 3-12/ games behind Chicago in the wild-card race. The Mariners stayed six games in back of Texas in the A.L. West and three back in the wild-card chase.

Pat Mahomes (2-4) relieved Boston starter Mike Maddux in the fifth inning and was the winner. Heathcliff Slocumb got five outs for his 25th save.

The Mariners put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth, but Slocumb struck out Griffey and retired Edgar Martinez on a fly ball.

Poor fielding and poor pitching contributed to the early exit of Seattle starter Sterling Hitchcock (12-8).

First baseman Paul Sorrento’s error led to two unearned runs in the second inning. With one out and a runner at first, Sorrento misplayed what should have been a double-play ball. One out later, Bill Haselman doubled off the right field wall.

Jay Buhner hit his 39th home run in the Seattle second.

Hitchcock loaded the bases with one out in the third on a walk, single and a hit batter. Wil Cordero’s grounder scored one run and Pemberton’s double drove home two more.

Griffey hit a three-run homer in the fifth. He also had an RBI grounder in the seventh.

Seattle reliever Greg McCarthy hit two batters in the seventh, and Jeff Frye followed with a bloop single for a 6-4 lead. Darren Bragg drew a bases-loaded walk in the Boston eighth.

Notes

Boston, which won the season series 7-6, has not lost a season series to Seattle since 1989… . Rodriguez’s streak is one shy of the club record shared by Dan Meyer (1978) and Richie Zisk (1982)… . Griffey drove in four or more runs for the eighth time this year.

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Red Sox Decision Mariners Rodriguez Sets Seattle Hit Record, Griffey Belts 43rd In 7-5 Defeat

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