Ayala Stops Chisox Cold As M’S Romp Reliever Hurls 3 Hitless Innings To Get Victory

Those who follow the Seattle Mariners may find themselves ducking into closets today, clapping a hand over their mouths and trying not to let the five words out in public …

“Thank heavens for … the bullpen.”

On a day when Seattle lost yet another game to powers beyond their control - they’ve scheduled yet another doubleheader today after Saturday’s second game was rained out - Bobby Ayala was a huge factor in the Mariners’ 11-6 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“It’s like we said when we made the deals at the trading deadline,” manager Lou Piniella said. “It wasn’t just the new arms we needed, we had to change roles, get everybody pitching well. And the last two, three weeks that’s been happening with regularity.”

Though Saturday’s game became a rout, Ayala entered it in the fifth inning with a one-run lead, a White Sox runner on base and Albert Belle at the plate with no one out.

Go ahead. Convince yourself you thought that 5-4 lead was safe.

The right-hander got Belle to pound into a double play, then rolled off three no-hit, no-run innings before handing an 11-4 lead over to fellow reliever Bob Wells.

“We kept swinging the bats, but if Bobby doesn’t hold it there, who knows?” Piniella said.

Home runs by Edgar Martinez (20), Jay Buhner (29) and Paul Sorrento (23) accounted for six Seattle runs, and Martinez added a two-run single in the seventh inning.

And having won two in a row, the Mariners took dead aim on Game 2 of the scheduled doubleheader, then the heavens unleashed an awesome thunderstorm.

“We don’t have a day off until Sept. 3,” Piniella said, “and this is playing havoc with our pitching rotation. We sat down after the All-Star break and made sure we had the matchups we wanted, which pitchers would face which teams. We’re going to have to rework everything now.”

That may not require a degree in planning, but it’s no simple matter, either. With games lost on Thursday and Saturday, the Mariners find themselves with starting pitchers unavailable on normal rest.

“It’s a concern,” Piniella said.

So, in truth, were the games Saturday. Seattle had played a double-header in Baltimore Friday, spending more than 14 hours at the ballpark, then flew to Chicago and arrived at the team hotel a little before 2 a.m.

Thirteen hours later, they began the first of what was supposed to be two games.

The offense was ready. Jamie Moyer was not.

Martinez hit a two-run homer to give the Mariners a 2-0 first inning lead and by the top of the fourth inning, they were ahead 5-0. But Moyer, a 12-game winner looking for his career-best 13th victory, couldn’t get his pitches down or the White Sox out in the fourth and fifth innings.

In the fourth inning, the White Sox came up with three infield singles, each hit to shortstop Alex Rodriguez, to push home a run with two out. Not one of those balls was well hit. All three could easily have been outs. None were. Ozzie Guillen then dropped an RBI double down the line, Norberto Martin singled home two more runs and suddenly Moyer’s 5-0 lead was nearly gone.

When he gave up a single to Frank Thomas to open the fifth inning, Piniella pulled him and went to Ayala.

It has become that time of year. Leads - and games - are too precious to squander in a pennant race. Ayala did his job, the Mariners’ offense chased Doug Drabek and then pounded Tony and Carlos Castillo, and Seattle had it’s 68th win of the year.

In the end, Ayala had sliced his earned run average from 5.04 to 4.81, a step in the right direction if not quite Cy Young Award material. And the Mariners’ staff, which had a 5.14 ERA on Aug. 1, had trimmed that to 4.93 - and the bullpen’s ERA since Aug. 1 is 3.13.

For all that, the Mariners are 8-6 this month and facing 17 games in the next 16 days.

“It doesn’t get easier,” Piniella said. “But this time of year, it’s not supposed to. That’s why so few teams have something to play for.’

Mariners 11, White Sox 6

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 4 2 1 0 1 0 .321 ARodriguez ss 5 0 0 0 0 0 .304 Griffey Jr cf 3 2 1 1 2 1 .301 EMartinez dh 5 2 3 4 0 0 .324 Buhner rf 5 1 1 1 0 3 .240 Sorrento 1b 3 2 2 3 1 0 .269 Ibanez lf 2 1 1 1 0 0 .167 a-RDavis ph-3b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .279 Gates 3b 2 0 1 1 0 0 .242 b-Tinsley ph-lf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .226 Marzano c 4 1 1 0 0 0 .303 Totals 37 11 11 11 4 5

Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg. NMartin 3b 5 1 3 2 0 1 .307 DaMartinez 1b 5 0 2 0 0 0 .269 FThomas dh 5 0 2 1 0 0 .346 1-MValdez pr 0 0 0 0 0 0 .260 Belle lf 5 1 1 0 0 0 .264 Cameron rf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .265 Karkovice c 4 0 0 0 0 1 .186 Durham 2b 4 1 2 1 0 0 .260 DLewis cf 3 1 1 1 1 0 .211 OGuillen ss 4 1 1 1 0 0 .254 Totals 39 6 13 6 1 3

Seattle 201 201 500 - 11

Chicago 000 400 011 - 6

a-flied out for Ibanez in the 6th. b-grounded into double play for Gates in the 6th.

1-ran for F.Thomas in the 9th.

E-OGuillen (14). LOB-Sea 3, Chi 7. 2B-Griffey Jr (28), EMartinez (26), NMartin (6), FThomas (27), Belle (29), OGuillen (15). 3B-Ibanez (1). HR-Sorrento (23) off CCastillo; Buhner (29) off Drabek; EMartinez (20) off Drabek. RBIs- Griffey Jr (111), EMartinez 4 (86), Buhner (87), Sorrento 3 (62), Ibanez (1), Gates (12), NMartin 2 (23), FThomas (98), Durham (40), DLewis (5), OGuillen (31). SB-Cameron (16), Durham (26). GIDP-Tinsley, Belle.

Runners left in scoring position-Sea 2 (EMartinez, Buhner); Chi 4 (Belle, Cameron 2, DLewis).

Runners moved up-ARodriguez, Belle, Karkovice.

DP-Sea 1 (ARodriguez, Cora and Sorrento); Chi 1 (OGuillen, Durham and DaMartinez).

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Moyer 4 9 4 4 0 1 63 4.26 Ayala W,8-4 3 0 0 0 1 2 33 4.81 BWells 2 4 2 2 0 0 26 5.61

Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Drabek L,9-8 5 6 6 6 2 2 81 5.65 TCastillo 1-1/3 2 3 3 2 0 15 5.55 CCastillo 1-2/3 2 2 2 0 1 17 4.10 Karchner 1 1 0 0 0 2 16 2.50

Moyer pitched to 1 batter in the 5th, Drabek pitched to 1 batter in the 6th.

Inherited runners-scored-Ayala 1-0, CCastillo 3-3.

IBB-off TCastillo (Griffey Jr) 1.

T-2:47. A-40,223 (44,321).