Tiger Continues His Mastery Of Junior Thompson Strikes Out Griffey Three Times To Down M’S 3-1

When Justin Thompson is on the mound, Ken Griffey Jr. is no all-star.

Thompson became the first pitcher to strike out Griffey six straight times as the Detroit Tigers ended Seattle’s five-game winning streak Saturday night with a 3-1 win over the Mariners.

“Nobody’s had that type of mastery over Junior,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “He is impressive, a good-looking young pitcher.”

Thompson (6-4), who struck out Griffey three straight times in a 4-1 loss to the Mariners last weekend, did it again in Griffey’s first three at-bats.

“I certainly didn’t expect to strike him out six times in a row,” Thompson said. “That’s just the way the dice rolls and I’ll take it. I would’ve been happy just to get him out six times in a row.”

Griffey went down swinging in the first and third innings. Then, just after taking an Alex Rodriguez liner off his left leg in the sixth, Thompson threw a called third strike past Griffey on a 1-2 pitch.

“I approached Griffey the same way I did last week,” Thompson said. “I started him hard and away and showed him the curve for something different, and then went hard and away again. I’m going to keep doing that until he shows me he can hit it.”

Griffey, just 2 for 11 with one RBI in the first three games of Seattle’s four-game series at Detroit, left without speaking to reporters.

Thompson matched his career high with nine strikeouts.

Thompson gave up one run and five hits in eight innings.

“He’s got a good fastball, good changeup, a very decent curveball and he doesn’t walk people,” Piniella said. “That’s rare in a young pitcher.”

Tony Clark homered over Tiger Stadium’s right-field roof and Raul Casanova hit a two-run homer for Detroit, which stopped a three-game losing streak. Seattle lost at Detroit for the first time in five games this season.

Bob Wolcott (2-4), who hasn’t won since April 20, lost his third consecutive start, allowing three runs and five hits in seven innings.

“It would’ve been a tough game for anyone to win the way (Thompson) was pitching,” Wolcott said. “I’m positive; I’m getting outs and pitching into the seventh or eighth the last two games and I’ve got to feel good about that. If I keep pitching like that, I’ll win some games.”

Casanova hit his first home run since Sept. 19, a second-inning drive after Bob Hamelin doubled.

“I thought I got the ball in, but I guess it got too much of the plate,” Wolcott said. “He’s a fastball hitter and he hit it good.”

Clark, who hadn’t homered since May 23 at Baltimore, made it 3-0 in the fourth with a 439-foot drive that took two high bounces on top of the roof before going over for his 18th homer.

Notes

Griffey flied out off Mike Myers in the ninth. … Clark, who homered over the right-field roof last Sept. 15, became the fifth Tiger to accomplish the feat twice, joining Norm Cash, Jason Thompson, Kirk Gibson and Mickey Tettleton… . The Mariners have never swept a season series at Detroit. Their best one-year record at Tiger Stadium was 5-1 in 1985. … Travis Fryman played his 1,000th game… . Homers have accounted for 49 percent of the Mariners’ runs in their last 29 games (81 of 163).

Tigers 3, Mariners 1 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Amaral 2b 4 0 1 1 0 1 .271 ARodrigz ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .318 Griffey Jr cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .303 EMartinz dh 3 0 1 0 1 1 .333 Buhner rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .228 DaWilson c 3 0 1 0 0 1 .301 a-Sorrnto ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .282 RDavis 3b 3 1 1 0 0 1 .289 Blowers 1b 1 0 0 0 2 0 .234 Cruz Jr lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 .320 Totals 30 1 5 1 3 10

Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg. BLHunter cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .233 Higginson rf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .266 Fryman 3b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .279 ToClark 1b 3 1 1 1 0 0 .275 Hamelin dh 3 1 2 0 0 0 .375 Casanova c 3 1 1 2 0 1 .299 Pride lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 .241 JoReed 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .257 DCruz ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .202 Totals 28 3 5 3 2 2

Seattle 000 010 000 - 1

Detroit 020 100 00x - 3

a-grounded into fielder’s choice for Wilson in the 9th.

E-Amaral (1), ARodriguez (11), JoReed (2). LOB-Seattle 5, Detroit 3. 2B-DaWilson (15), Hamelin 2 (4). HR-ToClark (18) off Wolcott; Casanova (1) off Wolcott. RBIs-Amaral (12), ToClark (51), Casanova 2 (8). CS-Amaral (4), EMartinez (2). GIDP-EMartinez, Fryman.

Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 2 (Griffey Jr, RDavis); Detroit 1 (JoReed).

Runners moved up-Higginson.

DP-Seattle 2 (RDavis and Blowers), (Amaral and ARodriguez); Detroit 2 (Casanova, DCruz and ToClark), (DCruz and ToClark).

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Wolcott L, 2-4 7 5 3 3 2 2 100 5.63

SSanders 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 7.26 Detroit IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

JThmpsn W, 6-4 8 5 1 1 2 9 127 2.92

MMyers 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 3 5.94

ToJones S, 6 2/3 0 0 0 1 1 16 4.07

T-2:24. A-18,896 (52,416).