Despite Loss, M’S Like Look Of New Pitcher
REPLAY: 4-28-97 Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners was misidentified in a photo caption of page C9 of Sunday’s editions.
The Seattle Mariners can remember the names of every young pitcher their system has produced this decade - recall, even, most of their faces - but hardly any of the arms that came attached to them proved memorable.
On Saturday, in a tough, well-pitched 4-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Mariners may have found an arm worth keeping.
Certainly, they found it praiseworthy.
It came attached to the right shoulder of Derek Christopher Lowe, a 23-year-old who made his major league debut - lost it - and still drew rave reviews.
“He was throwing a 91-mph sinker,” catcher John Marzano said. “Guys knew it was coming and still hit ground balls. He was awesome.”
Recalled from Tacoma on Thursday, Lowe opened the curtain on his big-league career in front of family and friends from Dearborn, Mich., - folks who’d driven 4 hours on the off-chance that he might pitch. When he did, he didn’t disappoint them or his manager.
Inheriting a 3-2 deficit from starter Bob Wolcott, Lowe pitched 3-1/3 innings that had Piniella smiling after a loss, no easy feat.
“He was as impressive as any young pitcher we’ve brought up in the five years I’ve been here,” Piniella said. “He threw strikes, he kept the ball down. It was just a solid, solid performance by a kid we’ve been watching all season in Tacoma.”
Tied at 3 entering that inning, Otis Nixon was safe on a one-out ground ball off third baseman Russ Davis’ glove. Nixon stole second base, but stayed there when Carlos Garcia beat out an infield single.
Piniella sent in veteran reliever Norm Charlton who got the second out on a fly ball.
Joe Carter then lined a single into right field, and as Nixon rounded third base with the winning run, Jay Buhner - playing shallow under orders - was in position to catch Nixon, but couldn’t come up with the ball cleanly and Nixon scored.
Notes
Ken Griffey Jr. didn’t add to his April home run record but inched closer to the big-league mark for April RBIs with a first-inning double that drove in his 30th run of the month. The record is 32 by Barry Bonds in 1996, and the American League mark is 31 by Joe Carter in 1994. … Catcher Dan Wilson doubled to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
Blue Jays 4, Mariners 3
Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 5 1 1 0 0 0 .243 ARodriguez ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 .343 Griffey Jr cf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .376 EMartinez dh 3 0 1 0 1 0 .306 Buhner rf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .218 Sorrento 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .301 DaWilson c 4 2 2 0 0 1 .351 1-Tinsley pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .211 Marzano c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 RDavis 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .333 Amaral lf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .440 Totals 36 3 8 2 1 7 Toronto AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Nixon cf 5 1 1 0 0 0 .197 CGarcia 2b 5 1 2 0 0 0 .186 Merced rf 4 1 2 0 1 0 .247 Carter dh 4 1 3 2 0 0 .259 Sprague 3b 4 0 0 1 0 2 .291 CDelgado 1b 3 0 2 1 1 1 .383 SGreen lf 2 0 1 0 0 1 .268 a-Brumfield ph-lf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .300 Mosquera c 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250 AGonzalez ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .299 Totals 37 4 12 4 2 5 Seattle 100 010 100 - 3 Toronto 000 210 001 - 4 Two outs when winning run scored.
a-grounded into fielder’s choice for Green in the 5th.
1-ran for Wilson in the 9th.
E-RDavis (6), Merced (1). LOBSeattle 7, Toronto 10. 2B-Griffey Jr (5), DaWilson (7), CGarcia (3), Carter (4), CDelgado (1), Mosquera (1). RBIsGriffey Jr (30), Amaral (4), Carter 2 (10), Sprague (14), CDelgado (14). SB-Nixon (9), CGarcia (5). CS-Carter (1). GIDPMosquera.
Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 3 (Cora 2, Sorrento); Toronto 6 (Nixon, Sprague, Brumfield 2, AGonzalez 2).
Runners moved up-Buhner, RDavis, Carter, Sprague, AGonzalez.
DP-Seattle 2 (DaWilson-ARodriguez), (RDavis-Sorrento).
Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Wolcott 4-2/3 7 3 3 2 3 103 6.15
McCarthy 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.79
Lowe L,0-1 3-1/3 4 1 1 0 2 40 2.70
Charlton 1/3 1 0 0 0 0 6 4.26
Toronto IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
WWilliams 7 5 3 2 1 5 122 3.04
Quantrill W,3-1 2 3 0 0 0 2 33 1.46
Inherited runners-scored-McCarthy 3-0, Charlton 2-1. HBPby Wolcott (Carter). WP-WWilliams. T2:51.