Red Sox Treat Fill-In Wolcott Rudely So Much For That Magic Touch; Boston Pounds Johnson’s Replacement In 10-5 Victory

The last time Bob Wolcott was called on as a late replacement for Seattle Mariners ace Randy Johnson, he beat the Boston Red Sox.

It was just part of his two-season mastery of the American League East club that gave Wolcott a 4-0 record and 2.35 earned-run average in four starts against the Red Sox entering Friday’s start.

But on Friday, it was not the same Wolcott the Red Sox had grown to dread.

Wolcott gave up three home runs in a little more than three innings, and two more ninth-inning Red Sox homers beat the Mariners 10-5 in front of 40,176 at the Kingdome.

The defeat dropped Seattle below the .500 mark in the standings for the first time since Aug. 23, 1995, - 200 games ago.

Wolcott was supposed to start today, but Johnson, the scheduled starter, spent Thursday evening and Friday at the hospital with his son, Tanner, who was admitted with a viral respiratory infection.

Wolcott was told he would be the starter when he arrived at the Kingdome at 2:30 p.m. Normally when starting, he would wait until about 5 to get to the park. The change in schedule, along with poor location of his pitches, did him in.

“I guess the best thing I could’ve done is not sit around here all day thinking about it,” Wolcott said. “That’s one of the no-no’s of baseball. You don’t want to outthink yourself.”

Obviously out of touch with his best stuff, Wolcott struggled to stay ahead in the count and paid for it.

“You can’t pitch around guys all day long,” he said. “I had to come after them and they hurt me.”

Trailing 7-1 when Wolcott was lifted three batters and no outs into the fourth inning, Seattle cut the deficit to 7-5 in the sixth but couldn’t get the clutch hit needed with the tying run at second and one out in the seventh.

“We had chances,” said manager Lou Piniella. “We fell behind too far early.”

Bobby Ayala entered for the ninth inning - after three relievers had combined for five shutout innings - and gave up two home runs for the final score.

It was immediately evident that Wolcott did not have his usual Red Sox cryptonite. Nomar Garciaparra doubled off the National League scoreboard in right field to lead off the game and was driven home by John Valentin’s line drive to left. After Mo Vaughn walked and Mike Stanley flied out, Wolcott’s biggest Red Sox nemesis, Tim Naehring, dug in.

Naehring, who entered the game 5 for 10 against Wolcott, lined a hanging curve into the left field seats for a 4-0 lead.

“He’s getting the ball up,” Piniella said. “He’s got to throw more ground balls.”

Ken Griffey Jr. provided an impressive moment with a towering home run off the right field foul net and Wolcott got through the next two innings unscathed before the “happy zone” pitch returned.

Wolcott gave up home runs to Wil Cordero and Darren Bragg in the fourth to give Boston a 7-1 lead. Bragg homered in the ninth for his first career two-homer game.

Red Sox starter Aaron Sele, the former Washington State ace from Poulsbo, Wash., gave up a single to Alex Rodriguez and walked Griffey with one out in the fifth to bring Boston pitching coach Joe Kerrigan to the mound.

Kerrigan and Sele’s discussion didn’t come up with a solution for getting out Edgar Martinez. Martinez lined the first pitch he saw into the seats in right-center for a three-run homer to make it 7-4.

Seattle picked up another run in the sixth on a strange play that had Dan Wilson score from second on Joey Cora’s grounder to short. Garciaparra threw wide of first base to allow Wilson to score, but Cora was thrown out trying to advance to second, ending the inning.

Although he gave up three singles, Edwin Hurtado still managed to face the minimum number of batters in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. A fourth-inning single was erased by a double play. Wilson caught Troy O’Leary trying to steal after he singled in the fifth. And Cordero was picked off at first base after singling to start the sixth.

Hurtado gave up singles to Garciaparra and Valentin to start the seventh and was replaced by Greg McCarthy. The runners advanced to second and third before Josias Manzanillo came in and stranded them.

Seattle did much the same in its half of the inning. Martinez’s double moved Rodriguez, who had walked, to third, but Boston brought lefty Butch Henry in to pitch. He struck out Jay Buhner swinging and pinchhitter Mike Blowers looking to end the inning, then got the next three batters he faced in the eighth inning to strike out swinging.

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