M’S Put Big Bats On Hold This Time, It’s Offense That Fails To Come Through

Alex Rodriguez seemed dazed as he dressed at his locker, then looked up when the question was posed.

Was there one pitch thrown to him in the 15-inning marathon Saturday that he could have done more with?

“That ball I fouled off in the fifth inning, that could have been a grand slam,” Rodriguez said quietly. “But that was about 5 hours ago.”

He was close.

In what was the longest game of the year for either team, Izzy Molina’s leadoff home run off Felipe Lira in the 15th inning gave the Oakland Athletics a 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

And for once, no Seattle fan could lay the blame on the bullpen - eight Seattle relievers held Oakland scoreless from the fourth inning through the 14th.

Not once in the stretch could the highest-scoring offense in baseball produce a run.

“We wasted a lot of opportunities, and a lot of pitching,” manager Lou Piniella said.

Early on, the Mariners banged away at Oakland, getting a Rob Ducey home run in the first inning and a two-run shot by Edgar Martinez in the third inning.

Omar Olivares couldn’t make either lead hold up, losing the 1-0 edge in the second inning, then giving up a leadoff homer in the fourth inning that tied the game at 3-3.

One single and a double later, Olivares was gone - and the Mariners’ bullpen faced the first of many crises.

Paul Spoljaric got out of that one, a second and third and two-out spot.

It began a parade of relievers to and from the mound, a group so large that, combined, the A’s and Mariners tied the big-league record for pitchers used in a game (18).

“We’re not going to get eight runs a game every game,” Heathcliff Slocumb said. “Today, our pitching was great. So what? It doesn’t matter whether you lose because of pitching or you lose because you don’t score. When you lose, it doesn’t matter why.”

The game turned into a grind after the fourth inning, with managers Art Howe and Piniella using an expanded-roster bench and bullpen time and again. In the end, Piniella had used 24 players, Howe 22.

Ken Griffey Jr., who went 1 for 5 with two walks, was exhausted after this one.

“I feel like I’ve lost 9 pounds,” he said.