Edgar’s blast lifts M’s to win

By Larry LaRue

The News Tribune

BOSTON – Of all the weapons at his disposal, Lou Piniella loves nothing better than to give game-on-the-line situations to the oldest of them – Edgar Martinez.

Piniella did so in the ninth inning Tuesday, down by a run to Boston and up against closer Derek Lowe. A single and two perfectly executed hit-and-run plays later, the Seattle Mariners were tied and Martinez was at the plate.

He popped out, and the game went into extra innings.

Still tied in the 11th inning, the Mariners kept running and got the game to Martinez again – and this time, his three-run home run was the blow that beat the Red Sox, 6-3.

“You get the game to Edgar often enough, give him enough opportunities, he’s going to deliver,” Piniella said.

In a game Boston absolutely had to have – and the Mariners really didn’t need – Seattle stole it, literally.

There were four stolen bases, including two by Ichiro Suzuki and one by Bret Boone, and two of them set up runs. In the third inning, center fielder Mike Cameron stole more than a base, he swiped a home run from Trot Nixon with a marvelous catch of a long drive just before it went into the Seattle bullpen.

For all that, the Mariners arrived in their half of the ninth inning down by a run. And that’s when they stole something the Red Sox may miss for some time – Boston’s heart.

All Lowe needed was three outs to push his team deeper into the race for the wild card or American League East title.

The Mariners wouldn’t give him even one.

David Bell singled to open the ninth inning, left in the game by Piniella because he’d been hitting well of late. Pinch hitter Stan Javier then came to the plate and the Red Sox – and a crowd of 33,790 – assumed he was up there to bunt.

Wrong.

“You never know what Lou is going to do,” Javier said.

Instead of bunting, Piniella sent out pinch runner Charles Gipson and Javier punched a ground ball single up the middle to put runners at first and third base. Up came Suzuki.

Squeeze?

No. Piniella sent Javier from first base, and when shortstop Nomar Garciaparra moved to cover second, Ichiro punched a ground ball single through the vacated hole to tie the game.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” he said.

“Why play for a tie on the road? That’s not our style,” Piniella said. “Our style is to put the game in motion, pressure the defense.”

When Martinez popped out with a runner on third base and no one out, he walked purposely to the edge of the Seattle dugout and almost gently laid down his batting helmet.

Blase? Hardly.

“I was ticked,” he said. “But it’s a small dugout and it’s hard to throw anything without hitting somebody. I was mad. I got myself out.”

Two innings later, he hit somebody – Rod Beck.

After falling behind in the count 0-2, Martinez fouled off two pitches, then took a Beck fastball over the screen in left field for his 18th home run of the season and his 14th RBI in his past seven games.

“I had the chance to deliver earlier and didn’t,” Martinez said. “But you have to let those at-bats go and focus on the present.”

Seattle got this game to Martinez and the 11th inning thanks in large part to another superb pitching performance, this time by Jamie Moyer and three relievers. Moyer went seven innings and allowed two runs, one of them a home run by Carl Everett, who tried to get Moyer’s attention as he rounded the bases by grabbing his crotch.

Moyer ignored him. Not all of the Mariners did.

“He crowds the plate, he hangs over the plate and we said something in the first inning to the umpire,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “Jamie threw a pitch in the first that was maybe a few inches off the plate and hit Everett. When Everett hit the home run, he wanted to make sure Jamie heard about it.”

Something to file away? Price shook his head.

“You hit somebody today, you go to the penalty box for a week,” Price said. “Better to just win the game.”

Moyer didn’t, but the bullpen did. Jeff Nelson gave up a run in two innings but Jose Paniagua burned through the 10th on just eight pitches, winning his fourth game when the Mariners rallied and Kazuhiro Sasaki closed it out for his 37th save.

With 43 games remaining, Sasaki has now tied his own franchise record for saves in a season.

“He will get chances for more,” Piniella promised.

So will Martinez.

“The way we play, we try to get runs from our whole lineup, but we try to get our 3-4-5 hitters as many opportunities with men on base as we can,” Piniella said. “Edgar, John Olerud, Bret Boone, I like our chances with them at the plate. I like getting the game to them, because they know how to deliver.”