Mariners Do It Again Seattle’s Powerhouse Batters Hammer Los Angeles Pitching

The National League’s and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching-and-defense-equals-victory philosophy got hit as hard as a fastball in the middle of the plate Sunday by the Seattle Mariners.

Los Angeles, which entered interleague play with the second-best pitching staff in the National League, right behind the vaunted Atlanta Braves, got roped in the Kingdome for four home runs in an 8-2 Mariners victory.

The Dodgers weren’t alone in falling to the American League elite. Atlanta’s Cy Young Award-winning staff got swept by Baltimore.

But the Dodgers were more than beaten by Seattle’s bats, they were pummeled.

Seattle scored 17 runs in two days against Los Angeles to bring its four-game interleague run total to 35. The Dodgers had given up 45 home runs in 55 games prior to visiting Seattle where their pitchers offered eight gopher balls in two games and walked 11 batters Sunday.

Seattle’s barrage also meant a bit of a boost in front of Texas in the A.L. West standings.

But Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer, who struggled early and then was masterful Sunday, warns that things could change quickly, and just as easily turn in the National League’s favor when Seattle moves to the N.L. parks, beginning Tuesday at San Francisco.

“It’s hogwash. Saying this league is better than that league, these pitchers are better than those pitchers,” Moyer said. “It’s four games out of 162.”

The statement the Mariners are making is that their pitchers are getting tougher as they compete to throw as well as the starter before them, and the hitters don’t miss fat pitches.

“The bottom line is you hit mistakes,” said Mariners first baseman Paul Sorrento, who hit a couple himself, driving in three runs with a solo homer and a two-run single.

Jose Cruz Jr. also got a mistake pitch to hit. He smacked a two-ball, no-strike fastball into the right-field seats to give Seattle a 5-2 lead in the fourth and its 100th homer of the season.

Cruz also is learning from his mistakes in his first two weeks in the majors.

Saturday, he struck out four times. Coach John Moses told him he was chasing too many pitches moving away from him out of the strike zone. So Sunday, he narrowed his strike zone and, along with the homer, had three walks and a run-scoring single.

On the other half of the score sheet, Moyer kept Los Angeles from rallying enough to make a threat after the second inning.

“We stayed away from a lot of guys on base inning after inning,” Moyer said. “You need to stay away from those big innings. If you can do that, you’re going to win a lot of games. I thought the key was keeping Brett Butler off base. He’s the catalyst of that offense.”

Mariners 8, Dodgers 2

Los Angeles AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Butler cf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .321 RCedeno cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .192 Zeile 3b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .223 Piazza dh-c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .365 Karros 1b 4 1 2 1 0 0 .250 Mondesi rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .287 Ashley lf 4 1 1 0 0 3 .237 Gagne ss 4 0 1 1 0 2 .263 Prince c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .179 b-Liriano ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .245 Osuna p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —c-Anthny ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250 WGrrero 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .289 Totals 33 2 6 2 2 7 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .342 Cruz Jr lf 2 2 2 3 3 0 .294 Griffey Jr cf 2 1 0 0 3 1 .301 EMartinz dh 3 0 2 1 1 0 .337 Buhner rf 3 0 0 0 2 0 .229 Sorrento 1b 2 1 2 3 1 0 .290 a-Blowers 1b 2 0 1 0 0 0 .242 DaWilson c 5 1 1 1 0 2 .287 RDavis 3b 4 1 1 0 1 3 .302 Espinoza ss 4 2 1 0 0 2 .222 Totals 31 8 10 8 11 8

Los Angeles 020 000 000 - 2

Seattle 012 200 30x - 8

a-flied out for Sorrento in the 6th. b-flied out for Prince in the 8th. c-flied out for Osuna in the 9th.

E-RDavis (13). LOB-Los Angeles 6, Seattle 13. 2B-Mondesi (14), Ashley (3), Gagne (10), Blowers (3). HR-DaWilson (6) off Guthrie; Cruz Jr (4) off IValdes; Sorrento (10) off IValdes; Karros (13) off Moyer. RBIs-Karros (36), Gagne (24), Cruz Jr 3 (10), EMartinez (49), Sorrento 3 (31), DaWilson (27). CS-Griffey Jr (2). S-Cora, Espinoza. SF-EMartinez.

Runners left in scoring position-Los Angeles 5 (Piazza, Karros, Anthony 2, WGuerrero); Seattle 8 (Buhner 2, Blowers 2, DaWilson, Espinoza 3).

Runners moved up-Buhner.

Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA IValdes L, 3-8 5 5 5 5 8 5 116 3.27 Guthrie 1-1/3 4 3 3 3 0 39 2.90 Hall 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 8 1.85 Osuna 1 1 0 0 0 3 18 3.57 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Moyer W, 6-2 6 4 2 2 0 2 102 4.38 SSanders S, 1 3 2 0 0 2 5 57 6.84 Inherited runners-scored-Hall 3-1.

WP-IValdes.

T-3:13. A-57,114 (58,879).