Piniella Feels Mariners Back On Track Skipper Likes Pitching After Bullpen Preserves A 4-1 Victory

One victory doesn’t necessarily put a listing ship or baseball team in an upright position, but Mariners manager Lou Piniella senses some smooth sailing ahead.

Buoyed by a come-from-behind, 4-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers that snapped a three-game losing streak Sunday afternoon, Piniella said his deck hands finally are in the proper position.

“We’ve been struggling, but we are better right now as a team than earlier in the season when we were winning,” Piniella said. “I know that sounds like a statement that makes people scratch their heads, but our rotation is basically set the way we want it. Our bullpen is basically set the way we want it, and we have our young left fielder (Jose) Cruz we hope will light a spark for us. I like the way we’re situated right now.”

Rookie right-hander Derek Lowe, a Dearborn, Mich., native celebrating his 24th birthday, pitched magnificently through seven innings, allowing one run (Bobby Higginson’s solo homer) and only three hits.

He didn’t get the win, but provided further evidence that the Mariners’ rotation is right on course.

“We have gotten five well-pitched games in a row,” Piniella said, “and it all starts with pitching. You can talk about the hitting all you want, but for a team to play consistently well over a long stretch of time, it starts with pitching.”

Starting with the shutout Randy Johnson pitched five days ago, the Mariners rotation has gotten quality innings from Jamie Moyer, Jeff Fassero, Bob Wolcott and now Lowe.

“That is something you can build with,” Piniella said.

That is not to say all ill-winds have subsided.

Closer Norm Charlton still walks a plank regularly.

Blowers snapped the tie with a leadoff homer in the eighth inning, an opposite-field fly ball that snuck into the first row of seats.

“I knew I hit it good, at least good enough to hit the wall,” Blowers said. “When you hit a ball that high, you never know how far it’s going to go.”

It went far enough.

Rodriguez’s eighth homer went much farther.

The line drive soared over the left field fence with plenty of room to spare. Tigers relievers proceeded to load the bases and Wilson coaxed a run-producing walk from right-hander Bob Miceli, giving Seattle its three-run lead.

It also put Scott Sanders in position to become the winning pitcher after pitching one perfect inning.

Lowe and Thompson dominated.

Either could have won, but neither did.

“The fact I didn’t get the win is absolutely no concern to me, as long as we win,” Lowe said. “I wanted to keep us in the game for as long as I could, knowing we were going to score some runs.”

Mariners 4, Tigers 1

Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg. BLHunter cf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .243 JoReed 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .270 Higginson rf 3 1 1 1 1 1 .267 ToClark 1b 2 0 1 0 2 0 .288 Fryman 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .279 Hamelin dh 4 0 1 0 0 2 .306 Pride lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .241 a-Nieves ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .273 BJohnson c 3 0 1 0 0 0 .196 DCruz ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 .208 Totals 30 1 4 1 3 9 Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Amaral 2b 4 0 2 0 0 0 .275 ARodriguez ss 4 1 1 1 0 0 .309 Griffey Jr cf 4 1 1 0 0 3 .313 EMartinez dh 4 0 1 0 0 1 .337 Buhner rf 3 0 0 0 1 2 .220 DaWilson c 3 1 2 2 1 0 .302 RDavis 3b 3 0 1 0 0 2 .289 Blowers 1b 3 1 1 1 0 1 .238 Cruz Jr lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Totals 31 4 9 4 2 10 Detroit 000 100 000 - 1 Seattle 000 000 13x - 4 RDavis reached first on catcher’s interference.

a-struck out for Pride in the 9th.

E-BJohnson (2), RDavis (12). LOB-Detroit 6, Seattle 6. 2B-DaWilson (14). HR-ARodriguez (8) off Brocail; Blowers (2) off JuThompson; DaWilson (4) off JuThompson; Higginson (8) off Lowe. RBIs-Higginson (31), ARodriguez (30), DaWilson 2 (24), Blowers (8). SB-Amaral (10). CS-BLHunter (5), Amaral (3). S-DCruz. GIDP-Blowers.

Runners left in scoring position-Detroit 2 (JoReed, Nieves); Seattle 4 (EMartinez, RDavis 2, Cruz Jr).

Runners moved up-BLHunter, Fryman.

DP-Detroit 1 (JoReed, DCruz and ToClark).

Detroit IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA JuThompson L,5-4 7-1/3 6 2 2 0 9 112 3.09 Brocail 1/3 1 1 1 0 0 6 7.07 MMyers 0 1 1 1 0 0 5 4.50 Miceli 1/3 1 0 0 2 1 21 5.60 Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Lowe 7 3 1 1 2 6 115 4.08 SSanders W,2-5 1 0 0 0 0 1 12 7.49 Charlton 0 1 0 0 1 0 8 6.43 Ayala S,1 1 0 0 0 0 2 9 5.29 Brocail pitched to 1 batter in the 8th, MMyers pitched to 1 batter in the 8th, Charlton pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Brocail 1-0, Miceli 1-1, Ayala 2-0.

T-2:47. A-39,841 (58,879).