Mariners Beat Angels in 12

The chum line was dropped Thursday afternoon when first-place Texas lost at Oakland, and the sharks in Seattle Mariner uniforms, those connoisseurs of comebacks, could smell the blood all the way up the coast.

Seattle spotted the Angels a three-run lead Thursday night, then roared back for a 5-4, 12-inning victory before 25,949 in the Kingdome, moving to within three games of the fast-fading Rangers in the American League West.

Paul Sorrento, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, started the Mariners’ winning rally with a single to right off Angel reliever Rich Monteleone, who then balked Sorrento to second.

Dan Wilson’s grounder to second--which Rex Hudler stopped with a dive--moved Sorrento to third with one out, and Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann summoned left-hander Mike Holtz, called up from double-A Midland Thursday, to make his major league debut against Seattle’s Darren Bragg.

Holtz, with closer Troy Percival watching from the bullpen, struck out Bragg, but with two out and Doug Strange at the plate, his curveball bounced in the dirt and past catcher Pat Borders, allowing Sorrento to easily score to end the 4-hour, 36-minute game.

Seattle right-hander Rafael Carmona, who replaced Tim Davis with runners on second and third and two out in the ninth, threw 3 1/3 innings of hitless relief to gain the win and improve to 6-0.

The Angels, who have lost 12 of their last 16 games and fell into sole possession of last place, staged their own comeback in the ninth, rallying to tie the game, 4-4.

Randy Velarde singled, and when Gary DiSarcina’s drive down the left-field line slipped by Brian Hunter and rolled to the wall, Velarde scored.

Darin Erstad’s grounder to first moved DiSarcina to third, but reliever Mike Jackson was able to get just enough of his glove on Borders’ grounder to tip it to shortstop Alex Rodriguez, who threw DiSarcina out at home.

Seattle Manager Lou Piniella replaced Jackson with Davis, a left-hander, and Garret Anderson greeted him with a double to right, which probably would have scored a faster runner from first.

But because Borders replaced Don Slaught (lower back spasms) in the seventh and the Angels have only two catchers, Lachemann had to leave Borders into run instead of going to Damion Easley or Orlando Palmeiro. Tim Salmon then flied to deep left to end the inning.

The Mariners had broken a 3-3 tie in the eighth when Rich Amaral drew a two-out walk from reliever Mike James and scored on Rodriguez’s double to left to make it 4-3.

Chili Davis had given the Angels a 3-0 lead in the top of the fifth with an RBI double off Seattle starter Sterling Hitchcock, but a Mariner offense that leads the major leagues in runs per game (6.35) finally stirred in the bottom of the fifth.

Angel starter Mark Langston, making his first Kingdome appearance since last October’s fateful 9-1 loss to the Mariners in the one-game playoff to determine the AL West champion, had used his sharp-breaking curve to avoid trouble for four innings.

But he walked three in the bottom of the fifth, and two of those batters eventually scored. Rich Amaral walked with one out, and Rodriguez, the 20- year-old phenom, followed with a mammoth, two-run home run to right-center, bringing his 1996 totals to 18 homers and 67 runs batted in.

Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner walked, and after Hunter flied to right, Dan Wilson blooped an RBI double that bounced just in front of Salmon in right, tying the game, 3-3.

Langston, who has not won a decision since June 20, retired Greg Pirkl on an infield pop to end the threat--and his evening--with a five-inning, five-hit, five-walk, six-strikeout, 120-pitch performance that was as much a test of endurance as skill.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first when Erstad singled and took third on Slaught’s bloop single. Anderson struck out, but Salmon’s drove Erstad home with a sacrifice fly.