Cora Celebrates One-Of-A-Kind Night Switch-Hitter Hits 1st Homer From Right Side, Goes 5 For 5 In M’S 8-2 Victory

It seemed like a sucker bet - $500 that a man who rarely faced left-handed pitchers and had never hit a home run batting right-handed wouldn’t hit one this year.

Joey Cora never had. Ken Griffey Jr. put a good chunk of change down that he never would.

On one of the better nights of a major league career that began in 1987, Cora collected a career-best five hits - including the first right-handed home run of his career - and helped lead the Seattle Mariners past the Baltimore Orioles 8-2.

“And he got his money,” said Griffey, who hit a home run of his own. “I gave it to him in cash. He’s getting married and he might want to buy his woman something nice …”

It was a night for smiles in the Seattle clubhouse after Jamie Moyer silenced the Orioles into the seventh inning, then let a trio of relievers finish a game that gave him his second victory in three starts this season.

Following Randy Johnson in the Mariners rotation, Moyer’s off-speed pitches may have seemed even more impossible to miss to the Orioles, who couldn’t seem to lay off his change-up. Never throwing harder than 86 mph - and once throwing a change-up to Pete Incaviglia clocked at 69 mph - Moyer struck out eight batters.

“That’s not something I try to do, but occasionally it happens,” Moyer said. “Kind of like six hits in a row occasionally happens.”

Against the team with the American League’s best record (22-10), the Mariners became 20-game winners themselves, officially reaching that mark quicker than any team in franchise history.

Two runs in the first, another in the second, three in the fourth and single runs in the sixth and ninth innings had the Mariners constantly pushing the Orioles.

All behind a pitcher whose pitches often wouldn’t have been ticketed for speeding in Maryland.

“Jamie’s one of the pitchers who can really frustrate a hitter,” manager Lou Piniella said. “You see the ball, you see the ball, you see the ball - and then you swing and you’re still out in front.”

If the Orioles couldn’t get started against Moyer, they couldn’t stop Cora. The 5-foot-8 second baseman spent most of the first month struggling at the plate. A recent hot streak had pushed his average to a season-high .273 beginning the night.

By the time the game ended, Cora was batting .307.

“I’ve never had five hits in the big leagues,” he said afterward. “That last at-bat, I thought about it, especially after the start I’ve had this year.”

Batting against left-hander Arthur Rhodes in the sixth inning, switch-hitting Cora went to the plate for the 545th time in his career to hit righthanded.

And he went deep - a 373-foot shot to left-center.

“Did you see how fast he went around the bases?” Griffey asked. “He hit the ball, I turned to say something to Jay (Buhner) and by the time I turned around he was at home plate again.”

Griffey hit his 15th home run in the fourth inning, a three-run bolt that turned a 3-0 game into a 6-0 lead for Moyer.

Mariners 8, Orioles 2

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Cora 2b 5 3 5 1 0 0 .307 ARodriguez ss 3 2 1 0 1 0 .301 Griffey Jr cf 3 1 2 4 1 1 .354 EMartinez dh 5 1 2 1 0 0 .323 Buhner rf 4 0 0 0 1 4 .219 Sorrento 1b 4 0 0 0 1 1 .303 RDavis 3b 5 1 2 0 0 0 .321 Ducey lf 5 0 1 1 0 2 .267 Marzano c 5 0 1 1 0 2 .267 Totals 39 8 14 8 4 10

Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

ByAnderson cf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .351 Reboulet 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .233 RPalmeiro 1b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .258 Incaviglia dh 4 0 0 0 0 4 .278 CRipken 3b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .326 Surhoff lf 4 1 2 1 0 0 .337 Hoiles c 2 0 0 0 0 1 .311 Hammonds rf 3 0 1 1 0 0 .256 Bordick ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 .191 Totals 31 2 7 2 1 10

Seattle 210 301 001 - 8

Baltimore 000 010 100 - 2

LOBSeattle 10, Baltimore 4. 2B-Cora (7), ARodriguez (11), EMartinez (10), Hammonds (3). HR-Cora (2) off Rhodes; Surhoff (2) off Moyer; Griffey Jr (15) off Rhodes. RBIsCora (12), Griffey Jr 4 (39), EMartinez (22), Ducey (2), Marzano (4), Surhoff (13), Hammonds (9). SB-Cora (2), RDavis (4), Ducey (1). CS-ByAnderson (4). SF-Griffey Jr. GIDPEMartinez, Reboulet, Surhoff.

Runners left in scoring position-Seattle 7 (Griffey Jr, EMartinez 2, Sorrento, Marzano 3); Baltimore 2 (Bordick 2).

DP-Seattle 3 (Marzano and ARodriguez), (ARodriguez, Cora and Sorrento), (Cora, ARodriguez and Sorrento); Baltimore 1 (Bordick, Reboulet and RPalmeiro).

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Moyer W,2-0 6-1/3 6 2 2 0 8 88 1.89 SSanders 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 12 8.04 McCarthy 1 0 0 0 1 1 17 3.46 Ayala 1 1 0 0 0 1 12 4.74

Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Coppinger L,1-1 3 8 5 5 3 4 74 6.30 Rhodes 2-1/3 3 2 2 0 2 35 3.50 MiJohnson 3-1/3 3 1 1 1 3 56 1.88 Boskie 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 8 10.93

Coppinger pitched to 2 batters in the 4th.

Inherited runners-scored-SSanders 2-1, Rhodes 2-2, MiJohnson 1-0, Boskie 2-0.

IBBoff Coppinger (Griffey Jr) 1. HBPby MiJohnson (ARodriguez), by SSanders (Hoiles).

T-3:11. A-47,257 (48,262).