Mariners Discover Seventh Heaven Nine-Run Inning Propels Seattle To 15-8 Rout Of Texas

The Texas Rangers drew their line in the sand Saturday, then used everything they had to keep the Seattle Mariners from embarrassing them again.

For six innings, it was smash-mouth baseball - with a dazzling Rangers defense denying Seattle again and again, and a rallying Texas offense that came back from early deficits to claim a 7-5 lead.

A team desperate to retake ground in the American League West, Texas was nine outs from a victory their manager had told them they needed.

And then the Mariners crossed that line, batted around in the seventh inning and took their third consecutive game from the Rangers, a 15-8 victory that pushed Texas four games back in the A.L. West - and into third place.

Worse for the Rangers, it reinforced the dark suspicion that they cannot beat the Mariners in their home park, where Seattle now owns a 17-5 record.

“It’s ridiculous, I don’t understand it,” Texas third baseman Dean Palmer said.

“I don’t have an answer for it,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. “And it’s a subject I’d rather not talk about.”

The Rangers determined before this game that Ken Griffey Jr. was not going to get the chance to beat them and virtually took the bat from his hands, walking him three times, twice intentionally. The Rangers walked him in the first inning with two outs and no one on. And once they walked him intentionally even though they had a left-handed pitcher on the mound.

Griffey, who was intentionally walked 13 times last season in 140 games, has been walked intentionally 11 times already this season.

All that strategy didn’t help, because the rest of the Mariners delivered in the clutch.

Jay Buhner hit a three-run home run in the first inning, then pulled the Mariners from behind with a two-run seventh-inning single. Joey Cora had a pair of doubles and three RBIs, and Dan Wilson had a three-run double.

In fact, without a hit from Griffey, the Mariners scored nine times in the seventh inning - their biggest inning since June 1995.

“We were sitting in the dugout right after they’d scored to take the lead,” said injured Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez, “and no one seemed worried.

Then we score nine? We’re just really, really playing well right now.”

Think of rivalries between good teams of the past, evenly matched teams - the Mariners won the division in 1995, the Rangers took it last year - and try to come up with a comparable situation. When this series began, Seattle had a 38-31 record, Texas was 36-31.

Yet at the Ballpark in Arlington, the Mariners have beaten the Rangers 17 times in the 22 game.

It’s not as if the Rangers don’t play well. In fact, three times Saturday they stymied Seattle with spectacular defensive plays, two by Palmer. In the fifth inning, however, Rusty Greer brought a sellout crowd of 46,193 fans to its feet - and left Edgar Martinez shaking his head.

The game was tied at 5 and the Mariners had runners at first and second base after a double by Jose Cruz Jr. and a walk to Griffey. Martinez crushed a Julio Santana fastball down the line in left field and Greer caught it, fully extended after a long run and a dive, to deny Martinez at least two bases and an RBI.

Texas came back on Jamie Moyer after the Mariners had gone ahead 3-0, then 4-1 and 5-2.

Ahead, 7-5, the Rangers were nine outs from seizing a little pride, rebuilding a little confidence.

And the Mariners flattened them.

On a night when starter Moyer was hit hard and relievers Mike Maddux and Bob Wells were dinged for three runs in a combined 3 innings, the Mariners roared back and then let left-hander Greg McCarthy shut out Texas over the final 2 innings.

“It was an offensive game, not a pitcher’s game, but there was a lot of great defense on both sides,” Piniella said.

For Seattle, the key defensive play came in the fourth inning, when Cora speared what appeared to be a single up the middle by Will Clark, and from his belly flipped to shortstop Alvaro Espinoza to get an inning-ending double play.

Notes

Juan Gonzalez, hit in the helmet Friday night by Bob Wolcott’s fastball, was released from Arlington Memorial Hospital on Saturday morning and declared fit for play. Manager Johnny Oates decided not to take any chances with Gonzalez in the field and made him the DH… . The grand slam Ken Griffey Jr. hit Friday was the 266th home run of his career and moved him into a tie with Vic Wertz for the 97th spot on baseball’s alltime home run list. George Hendrick is 96th with 267 home runs. Asked if he knew who Vic Wertz was, Griffey asked: “A broadcaster?” … Russ Davis’ second-inning bloop single gave him a career-best 10-game hitting streak… . Jay Buhner’s production is approaching the numbers he posted through the All-Star break a year ago. In the first half of ‘96, Buhner hit 23 home runs and had 72 RBIs. With 15 games left before the break this year, Buhner has 19 home runs and 55 RBI.

Mariners 15, Rangers 8

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cora 2b 5 1 2 3 0 0 .345 Cruz Jr lf 6 0 1 0 0 3 .254 Griffey Jr cf 2 2 0 0 3 0 .298 EMartinez dh 4 2 1 0 1 0 .331 Buhner rf 5 2 2 5 0 1 .236 Sorrento 1b 4 2 2 0 1 2 .288 DaWilson c 5 2 1 3 0 0 .279 RDavis 3b 4 2 3 2 1 1 .309 Espinoza ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 .192 a-Gates ph-ss 2 2 1 2 1 0 .280 Totals 39 15 13 15 7 7

Texas AB R H BI BB SO Avg. McLemore 2b 6 0 0 0 0 3 .209 IRodriguez c 5 1 3 2 0 0 .345 b-Frias ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Greer lf 4 2 3 1 1 0 .336 JuGonzalez dh 4 0 1 1 1 0 .242 WClark 1b 4 0 1 0 1 1 .351 Palmer 3b 5 1 1 1 0 1 .245 Simms rf 4 1 2 0 0 0 .270 Newson rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .250 Buford cf 4 2 3 1 0 1 .229 Gil ss 4 1 2 1 1 1 .241 Totals 42 8 16 7 4 8

Seattle 310 100 901 - 15 Texas 110 302 100 - 8

a-walked for Espinoza in the 7th. b-struck out for Rodriguez in the 9th.

E-Cruz Jr (1), Palmer (5), Simms (2), Newson (2). LOB-Seattle 5, Texas 12. 2B-Cora 2 (24), Cruz Jr (5), DaWilson (17), RDavis (20), Gates (6), IRodriguez 2 (23), JuGonzalez (9), Simms (5), Buford 2 (11), Gil. HR-Greer (10) off Moyer; Buhner (19) off Santana. RBIs-Cora 3 (30), Buhner 5 (57), DaWilson 3 (32), RDavis 2 (32), Gates 2 (11), IRodriguez 2 (37), Greer (37), JuGonzalez (46), Palmer (37), Buford (23), Gil (17). SF-Cora, Buford. GIDP-DaWilson, Espinoza.

Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 3 (Cruz Jr 2, Buhner); Texas 8 (McLemore, Frias, JuGonzalez, WClark, Palmer, Simms 2, Gil).

Runners moved up-DaWilson, Espinoza, McLemore, Greer, Palmer.

DP-Texas 2 (Santana, Gil and WClark), (Gil and WClark).

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Moyer 3-1/3 9 5 5 1 2 64 4.85 MMaddux W, 1-0 2-2/3 4 2 2 2 1 43 10.24 BWells 2/3 2 1 1 0 1 19 7.90 McCarthy 2-1/3 1 0 0 1 4 37 4.15

Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Santana 6 7 6 5 4 4 86 5.58 Vosberg L, 1-2 1/3 1 2 2 1 1 10 5.59 Patterson 0 3 5 5 2 0 17 2.93 Gunderson 1-2/3 1 1 1 0 1 25 2.02 Whiteside 1 1 1 0 0 1 14 7.36

Santana pitched to 1 batter in the 7th, Patterson pitched to 5 batters in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-MMaddux 1-0, McCarthy 1-0, Vosberg 1-1, Patterson 2-2, Gunderson 2-2.

IBB-off MMaddux (WClark) 1, off Vosberg (Griffey Jr) 1, off Santana (Griffey Jr) 1. WP-Whiteside.

T-3:23. A-46,193 (49,166).