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Mariners vs. Yankees |
Mets vs. Cardinals
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Sunday, October 15
McLemore's little hit starts big frame
Associated Press
SEATTLE -- Mark McLemore's 40-foot bunt started it all.
The leadoff single in the fifth inning helped wake up a
Mariners' offense so stagnant that manager Lou Piniella didn't even
bother to have batting practice before the game.
When the inning finally ended, the Mariners had sent 11 men to
the plate, scored five runs and taken a 6-2 lead, which they would
not relinquish. Seattle had just two hits in the first four innings
off Denny Neagle.
The big inning was good enough to keep the Mariners alive in the
AL Championship Series, which returns to New York for Game 6
Tuesday night with the Yankees leading 3-2.
"I was just trying to get on base any way I could," McLemore
said. "You've got to take advantage of the opportunities when you
get them, especially with the way we've been hitting."
McLemore said he made up his mind to bunt along the third-base
line when Dan Wilson grounded out to end Seattle's fourth inning.
"I had to do something," he said. "(Scott) Brosius pretty
much plays me the same every time. But he's the best in the
business at third on coming in, but I got some spin and a good hop
on the ball."
Hitting .180 through four games and four innings in the series,
the Mariners finally broke through against Neagle and the Yankees'
bullpen.
McLemore's bunted perfectly and Brosius couldn't make a play
with his bare hand. Neagle then walked Rickey Henderson, and Mike
Cameron sacrificed the runners to second and third.
"That was a big bunt," Henderson said. "It gave us some
momentum. We needed somebody to do that and Mark did it. Somebody
had to get it started for us."
The Yankees brought in Jeff Nelson to pitch to Alex Rodriguez.
Six pitches later, Nelson was gone.
Rodriguez singled to left field on Nelson's first pitch to bring
in McLemore and Henderson, Edgar Martinez hit a 2-0 pitch 416 feet
to center for a two-run homer and John Olerud followed by hitting
an 0-1 pitch 397 feet to center for a solo homer.
Manager Joe Torre signaled for Jason Grimsley, but the damage
was done.
"We got a little momentum back today," Martinez said. "We had
our backs way against the wall. Now, we have a little momentum and
it should help."
Henderson said he liked his team's chances in New York.
"All the pressure is on the Yankees. We don't have any pressure
on us," he said. "We don't have to win because we weren't
supposed to win this series and they were."
The Mariners came back after losing 5-0 on Roger Clemens'
one-hit, 15-strikeout game Saturday night. They scored only five
runs in the first four games of the series and were outscored 20-3
by the Yankees in Games 2, 3 and 4.
The Mariners scored five runs in an inning for the second time
in the postseason. They first did it in the eighth inning of Game 4
of their 1995 Division Series against the Yankees in the Kingdome
that led to an 11-8 victory. Seattle came back to win that series
3-2 after trailing 2-0.
The Mariners had some extra motivation going for them. They
didn't want the Yankees to wrap up the AL pennant at Safeco
Field.
"We don't want them to clinch on our home turf," Piniella said
before the game.
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