Sorrento Bats M’S To Victory Seattle First Baseman Has Two Key Hits In Extra-Inning Triumph Over Boston

If the Boston Red Sox were going to lose a game Sunday, they seemed determine to make Paul Sorrento beat them.

He did - twice.

On a Seattle team filled with marquee players, eye-popping numbers and catchy nicknames, Sorrento gets lost in a lineup that may be as potent as any in baseball. His teammates don’t take him for granted, but Boston manager Jimy Williams tried to, and lost because of it.

Sorrento’s two-run, two-out double in the eighth inning broke a tie and put Seattle ahead, 7-5, though for the second time in as many games, closer Norm Charlton couldn’t make a two-run lead hold up in the ninth inning.

So, into the 10th inning they rolled, and when Boston ran into trouble, the Sox ordered Jay Buhner intentionally walked to load the bases for Sorrento - who banged the gamewinning single into right field, producing an 8-7 Mariners victory.

That triumph seemed to take forever, and require the usual heroics from the usual Seattle suspects. Ken Griffey Jr. hit another home run, his fifth in five games, and Alex Rodriguez added his first of the season.

Edgar Martinez brought the Mariners from behind in the eighth inning with a two-run single that tied the game at 5.

And then there was Sorrento.

“He doesn’t say much, but we didn’t get him for his talking,” Griffey said. “Everybody talks about the heart of our lineup, but guys like Paulie are the guys that make the difference, too. This lineup doesn’t stop when you get by three or four of us.”

Manager Williams learned that Sunday. Twice.

What could easily have been another gutclenching Mariners loss instead became a battle of tenacity, a duel between a Red Sox team that led throughout the afternoon and a Seattle group that kept coming back.

After that marvelous four-run rally in the eighth inning, Seattle could have reacted to another failed ninth the same way many in the Kingdome crowd of 33,450 did by groaning loudly and heading for the exits.

Norm Charlton let another two-run lead slip away in the ninth inning, though this time it didn’t end the game, merely prolonged it. But even after Darren Bragg’s ground ball single glanced off Rodriguez’s glove at shortstop, becoming a two-run single, the Mariners simply regrouped and charged again.

“In the course of a season, you lose a lot of close games,” Sorrento said. “Everybody does, and some of them are tougher than others. We’ve already lost a couple games we could have won this season. We weren’t going to lose this one.”

With first base open in the eighth inning, manager Williams chose not to walk Sorrento but to pitch to him with men on second and third, and Sorrento doubled home two runs. In the 10th inning, Williams flipped the decision - walking Buhner to bring up Sorrento.

“I’ve always loved hitting in that situation, because the pressure is on the pitcher,” Sorrento said. “The bases are loaded, he has to throw strikes. He has to put the ball over the plate somewhere or walk in a run. Early in my career, I’d get a little too pumped up in that situation.”

And now?

“I’m a veteran,” Sorrento said. “Now I just focus better.”

Though the victory kept Seattle from being swept by Boston, it exacted a toll. The Mariners bullpen is near exhaustion, having worked all five games this week. And blowing ninth-inning leads is not the way to get Lou Piniella over his list of ailments.

“Oh, these games kill you,” Piniella said, throwing up his hands. “They take so much out of you, they exhaust you. We had two guys left in our bullpen, and one of them (Edwin Hurtado) was only available in an emergency.

“People talk about the two-through-five hitters in our lineup, but I talk about two-throughseven,” Piniella said. “It’s not just Alex and Junior and Edgar and Jay. You’ve got to get Sorrento, and you’ve got to get Danny Wilson.”