Mariners Release Penned-Up Feelings Davis’ Hr In 9th Gives Seattle Victory In Battle Of Relievers

It came down to the bullpens, as it so often does between good teams, and the Baltimore relief corps may be the best in baseball this season.

Find another with a 2.65 earned run average. Or with 20 wins. Or 43 saves.

The Mariners, on the other hand, had a bullpen ERA greater than 6.00, 17 losses and 25 saves - in 40 attempts.

So when the game came down to the ninth inning and a home run won it, the Mariners were delighted to pound Russ Davis on the back. But what they really wanted to talk about after their 4-3 victory was their bullpen.

“Two home runs and our pitching did the rest,” manager Lou Piniella said. “I’ve been waiting a while to say something like that.”

For the third time this season, Davis ended a game with a dramatic home run, this one a first-pitch, bottom-of-the-ninth bolt to center field off Orioles reliever Terry Matthews.

“I smiled more this time than any other home run I’ve hit,” Davis said. “But our bullpen was awesome. I think the rest of the league is about to find out just how good these arms out there are.”

Paul Spoljaric pitched a scoreless 2-2/3 innings as Seattle hung on to a 3-3 tie, and then Norm Charlton walked to the mound to open the ninth inning.

He was followed each step by the sound of ‘boo.’ “It’s motivating,” he said, grinning. “I think they’ll keep motivating me for awhile, too.”

The man with eight blown saves faced the top of the Baltimore lineup - Brady Anderson, Jeff Reboulet, Rafael Palmerio - and set them down in order.

When Davis headed for home plate, the Mariners bullpen had pitched 3-3/2 shutout innings. So had the Orioles.

Davis ended that streak with his 16th home run of the year.

“This one had a little drama to it,” Piniella said.

Neither starter earned a decision, though both Omar Olivares and Jimmy Key survived innings that might have turned a close game into a blowout.

Key, a 13-game winner, was without his signature control, walking five men in five innings. Of the 112 pitches he threw, 52 of them missed the strike zone. Yet because he worked out of trouble in almost every inning, he kept Seattle from pulling away.

The one pitch Key couldn’t work around was the one Wilson hit for a three-run home run in the second inning - a fly ball to left field that barely cleared the wall.

Wilson’s ninth homer gave Olivares a 3-1 lead, and the right-hander promptly saw it threatened every time the Orioles came to bat. He forced Baltimore to strand seven base runners in four innings beginning with the third, and retired shortstop Mike Bordick in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and two outs.

Into the sixth inning, Olivares clung to a 3-2 lead. Cal Ripken Jr. doubled - the fourth two-base hit Olivares allowed - took third base when Harold Baines singled off Alex Rodriguez’ glove and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Hoiles.

When Olivares walked Bordick, a .232 hitter, Piniella went to his bullpen and Spoljaric.

Given a friendly-enough ovation when he took the mound, Spoljaric inherited a two-on, one-out crisis and got out of it with one pitch.

Anderson popped a ball into shallow left field, Rodriguez made a marvelous over-the-shoulder catch and then doubled Baines off second base.

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