The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
41°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

Davis, Amaral Step Up To The Plate For Seattle Lesser Lights Strike Key Blows As Mariners Outlast Yankees

Associated Press

Most of the time, Griffey, Buhner, Rodriguez and Martinez do the thumping for the Seattle Mariners.

Now, it’s Russ Davis and Rich Amaral who are coming through.

Davis matched his career-high with four RBIs and Amaral broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single in Tuesday night’s 7-5 victory over the New York Yankees, preventing Joe Torre from getting his 1,000th win as a manager.

“It takes a lot of concentration to pitch against the bigger guys in our lineup,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said.

New York led 2-0 on Bernie Williams’ two-run homer in the fourth inning. But Davis tied the game with an RBI single in the fifth off Ramiro Mendoza and a sacrifice fly in the seventh off Brian Boehringer. After Amaral’s two-run single off Jim Mecir (0-1) gave the Mariners a 4-2 lead in the eighth, Davis hit another two-run single, which proved important.

“It’s a great feeling,” said Davis, who missed most of last season with a broken leg. “It’s not more special because I did it here.”

Davis, traded by the Yankees to Seattle as part of the Tino Martinez deal in December 1995, was feeling down after he allowed a fourth-inning grounder by Martinez to get by for an error.

“I can’t start making errors in this stadium,” Davis said. “People will not let it go. They were in my ear the whole time.”

In New York’s 6-5 victory Monday, Seattle’s Greg McCarthy allowed both his batters to reach and Mecir pitched 2-1/3 perfect innings. In a reversal, Mecir gave up five runs, four hits and two walks in the eighth, while McCarthy (1-0) retired four consecutive batters to win his first major league decision.

“You just have to forget about the bad day you had,” McCarthy said. “If you’re a big-league pitcher, you don’t carry that with you.”

Alex Rodriguez singled leading off the eighth and Ken Griffey Jr. struck out. The key to the inning was when Rodriguez stole second with Edgar Martinez up and continued to third after Joe Girardi’s throw bounced into center field for an error.

Martinez was walked intentionally and Jay Buhner also walked, loading the bases. Amaral then singled to left past shortstop Derek Jeter.

Dan Wilson singled to reload the bases, Davis singled to chase Mecir and pinch-hitter Mike Blowers followed with a sacrifice fly off Graeme Lloyd.

xxxx Mariners 7, Yankees 5 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 5 0 2 0 0 1 .250 ARodriguez ss 5 1 2 0 0 1 .345 Griffey Jr cf 5 0 0 0 0 1 .343 EMartinez dh 4 2 1 0 1 1 .302 Buhner rf 4 1 1 0 1 1 .222 Sorrento 1b 2 1 1 0 0 1 .288 a-Amaral ph-1b-lf 2 1 1 2 0 0 .406 DaWilson c 3 1 1 0 1 0 .337 RDavis 3b 3 0 3 4 0 0 .354 Tinsley lf 2 0 0 0 1 1 .205 b-Blowers ph-1b 0 0 0 1 0 0 .136 Totals 35 7 12 7 4 7 New York AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Raines lf 4 0 0 0 1 1 .244 Boggs 3b 4 2 3 0 1 0 .310 BeWilliams cf 5 2 2 3 0 1 .349 TMartinez 1b 5 0 2 2 0 0 .321 O’Neill rf 5 0 0 0 0 1 .364 Fielder dh 2 0 0 0 2 0 .250 Jeter ss 4 0 0 0 0 0 .306 Duncan 2b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .349 1-PKelly pr-2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222 c-Whiten ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 .313 Girardi c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .250 Totals 37 5 9 5 4 4 Seattle 000 010 150 - 7 New York 000 200 003 - 5 a-flied out for Sorrento in the 7th. b-hit sacrifice fly for Tinsley in the 8th. c-singled for Kelly in the 9th. 1-ran for Duncan in the 7th. E-RDavis (8), Girardi (1). LOBSeattle 7, New York 9. 2B-RDavis (9), BeWilliams (9). HR-BeWilliams (2) off Moyer. RBIsAmaral 2 (6), RDavis 4 (15), Blowers (4), BeWilliams 3 (19), TMartinez 2 (33). SB-ARodriguez (4). SF-RDavis, Blowers. GIDPGriffey Jr, Tinsley. Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 4 (Cora 3, ARodriguez); New York 4 (BeWilliams, Jeter 3). Runners moved up-Amaral, DaWilson, O’Neill 2. DP-New York 2 (TMartinez, Jeter and TMartinez), (Mendoza, Jeter and TMartinez). Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Moyer 5-2/3 5 2 2 0 1 80 3.18 SSanders 2/3 1 0 0 2 0 19 9.12 McCarthy W,1-0 1-1/3 0 0 0 0 2 14 3.27 BWells 1 1 2 2 2 1 29 11.05 Charlton 1/3 2 1 1 0 0 6 4.50 New York IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Mendoza 6 7 2 2 0 5 76 6.89 Stanton i1/3 0 0 0 0 0 4 2.70 Boehringer 1/3 0 0 0 2 0 12 2.87 Mecir L,0-1 2/3 4 5 5 2 1 28 15.00 Lloyd 1-2/3 1 0 0 0 1 21 0.00 Mendoza pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored-SSanders 2-0, McCarthy 2-0, Charlton 2-2, Stanton 2-0, Boehringer 2-1, Mecir 3-0, Lloyd 2-1. IBBoff Mecir (EMartinez) 1. WP-Boehringer. T-3:15. A-21,955 (57,545).