Road Tested

L.A. Times Archives

Oct. 3, 1997 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

SEATTLE —

An elbow injury did what the Baltimore Orioles couldn’t do--knock Jamie Moyer out of the game.

And, as soon as the left-hander walked off the mound Thursday, the Orioles began their march to another lopsided victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Baffled by Moyer’s off-speed pitches for half the game, Baltimore went ahead immediately after the 17-game winner was forced out with a strained flexor muscle in his left elbow.

The Orioles rocked Seattle’s struggling bullpen for six runs en route to their second-consecutive 9-3 victory. The Orioles now have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Baltimore can advance to the American League championship series for a second consecutive year with a victory Saturday in Game 3 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles, who got homers from Harold Baines and Brady Anderson, are 9-4 against the Mariners this season.

Roberto Alomar was zero-for-two against Moyer when he stepped to the plate with Baltimore trailing 2-1 in the fifth inning. But Alomar couldn’t believe his luck when Moyer left the game with a 1-0 count and two runners on, handing the ball over to Paul Spoljaric.

“Moyer was more a finesse pitcher that throws breaking balls on the corners, while Spoljaric likes to throw his fastball,” Alomar said. “It seemed like when he went out everything turned around. The bats started coming alive and from that point on we played better baseball, hitting-wise.”

The Seattle bullpen had a lot to do with it. Alomar hit a 3-2 pitch that glanced off the glove of a leaping Ken Griffey Jr. at the center field wall, a two-run double that put Baltimore ahead to stay.

“The guy’s only human,” Spoljaric said of Griffey. “I thought he was unbelievable that he got to the ball. I initially thought he had it.”

It was the first of nine hits against the Seattle bullpen, which has a 10.80 ERA in the two games. Bobby Ayala was the main culprit Thursday, yielding six runs in 1 1/3 innings.

“Our bullpen threw the ball very well in September,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “Right now we’re just not getting the job done, but that could change over the weekend.”

Perhaps, but the Orioles are willing to take their chances at home against a Seattle bullpen that blew 27 save opportunities this season.

Moyer was 5-1 lifetime against his former team--including 1-0 this season with a 2.92 ERA. This time, he allowed five hits and a walk, striking out two in 4 2-3 innings.

“We were kind of stymied by Moyer,” Orioles manager Davey Johnson said. “You don’t like to see a pitcher leave a game with an injury, but me, personally, I was glad to see him go.”

Mike Bordick, who went two-for-three, said, “Obviously we weren’t going to do much against him.”

Moyer, who was bothered by a similar injury in spring training, was to be examined Friday.

In the seventh, Anderson followed a walk to Bordick with a two-run homer off Ayala for a 5-2 lead. It was Anderson’s second career homer off Ayala in seven at-bats.

Seattle got a run in its half on a run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Rob Ducey.

But the Orioles pulled away with a four-run eighth.

Ayala walked Baines intentionally to load the bases, then forced in a run by walking Lenny Webster on a 3-2 pitch. Bordick followed with a two-run single and Anderson greeted Norm Charlton with an RBI-double to make it 9-3.

At that point, the crowd of 59,309 began to boo the home team.

“You don’t like to see that happen at home, naturally,” Piniella said. “But you know about expectations. . . . I’m sure they’re frustrated a little bit.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BASEBALL PLAYOFFS * REAL HEAD CASE

Oriole catcher Chris Hoiles was feeling fine Thursday, less than 24 hours after being hit in the head by a bat.

* MAKING HIS PITCH

New York pinned its hopes on Andy Pettitte Thursday night, hoping to take a 2-0 series lead over Cleveland.

TODAY’S GAMES

ATLANTA at HOUSTON

* Pitchers: Atlanta’s John

Smoltz (15-12) vs. Houston’s

Shane Reynolds (9-10)

* TV: ESPN, 1 p.m.

* PROBLEM SOLVING