By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
SEATTLE – Jeff Cirillo already had muffed one chance of a lifetime at third base. He was determined not to screw up at the plate in the 11th inning Saturday with the winning run on third base.
Cirillo, whose sixth-inning error ended a 99-game streak of defensive perfection and left him tied for the major league record, drew a bases-loaded walk in the 11th to force home Carlos Guillen with the winning run in a 3-2 Seattle Mariners victory over the Texas Rangers.
It hasn’t been a dream-like Mariner beginning for Cirillo, who came to Seattle over the winter in a trade with the Colorado Rockies. He struggled early at the plate, and is batting .234.
The one constant has been his flawless defense.
On Friday, he tied John Wehner’s major league record with his 99th consecutive errorless game, and Saturday he seemed on his way to taking the mark for himself after he handled two plays with ease – a third-inning popup and a sixth-inning line drive.
Then Rangers catcher Bill Haselman pulled a hard one-hopper to Cirillo’s right with two outs in the sixth, and he made an awkward lean toward the ball and knocked it away.
The Safeco Field crowd, knowing what was at stake, groaned. Then they booed as the ruling by official scorer Terry Mosher was posted.
E-5.
For the first time since June 19 last year, Cirillo had made an error. Not only did he miss a chance at the consecutive-games record, he fell three fielding chances short of tying Don Money’s record of 261 straight plays without a miscue.
Cirillo, his eyes fixed on a clubhouse TV hoping to see a replay after the game, did not complain about the ruling.
“It’s a ball I usually make,” said Cirillo, who fielded a similar ball in the seventh inning and started a double play. “It was hit hard down the line. It was one of those plays that can go either way. There’s pressure on the scorekeeper. I wish it hadn’t come down to that.”
Manager Lou Piniella wasn’t happy with the scorer’s call.
“The only complaint I have about tonight is that Cirillo is going for a major league record and the ball is hit pretty good over there,” Piniella said. “That’s a tough way to make an error. With what he’s been striving for for 99 games, that’s a tough error to make. I usually don’t say much about the official scoring, but I think you give a good fielder the benefit of the doubt, especially in a game like this.”
Mosher said there was no doubt in his mind.
“It was an error,” he said. “It wasn’t one of my tougher calls.”
The toughest call of the night may have come from the Texas dugout, where manager Jerry Narron decided to walk Ichiro Suzuki with two outs and runners on first and second in the 11th.
Carlos Guillen stood on second after a one-out double off Texas reliever Chris Michalak, who then struck out Desi Relaford but walked Mark McLemore.
Narron decided it was better to walk Suzuki, put the winning run on third and gamble that Cirillo wouldn’t win the game.
“I didn’t want to get beat by Ichiro,” Narron said.
Michalak issued the intentional walk to Suzuki and Narron brought in right-hander Dan Miceli to face Cirillo.
“I tried to tell myself to stay back,” said Cirillo, speaking of his patience at the plate. “I had not been staying back most of the year.”
Five pitches later, patience paid off. Cirillo strolled to first base with an RBI walk and Guillen touched home as the Mariners recorded their ninth come-from-behind victory of the season.
The Rangers, who led 2-1 in the ninth before Relaford’s sacrifice fly tied the score, blew their seventh save opportunity of the season.
By contrast, Seattle relievers Arthur Rhodes, Jeff Nelson and Shigetoshi Hasegawa threw 4 2/3 shutout innings after starter James Baldwin allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3.
Hasegawa pitched the final three innings without allowing a hit to push his record to 3-0.
“We got good pitching. That was the key,” Piniella said. “Our pitching allowed us to stay close and finally win a ballgame.”
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