Can’t Close the Deal

Jeff Fassero did his part. Now Randy Johnson gets another chance to beat the Baltimore Orioles.

Fassero allowed three hits in eight shutout innings, retiring 18 straight batters in one stretch, to beat Baltimore 4-2 Saturday and keep the Mariners alive in their AL division series.

Seattle, bidding to become the first team to win a best-of-5 playoff after losing the first two at home, pulled to 2-1 in the series and will send Johnson to the mound Sunday against Baltimore’s Mike Mussina in Game 4.

Johnson allowed five runs over five innings in the series opener and has lost to Baltimore three times this season. The left-hander, who is 2-2 in postseason play, is eager to get another shot at the Orioles with Seattle’s season hanging in the balance.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “History shows that I have not pitched that well in the postseason. It’s a chance to redeem myself.”

Johnson’s second chance comes because Fassero completely dominated a Baltimore team that scored 18 runs in winning twice at the Kingdome.

Fassero didn’t allow a runner from the start of the fourth inning through the eighth, but was pulled by manager Lou Piniella after walking Geronimo Berroa leading off the ninth. At that point, after throwing 136 pitches, Fassero was through.

“My whole body was getting tired. I don’t think I threw 136 pitches once this year,” he said. “I knew right then that my location wasn’t going to be there.”

Fassero turned the game over to a bullpen that during the regular season had six of its 27 blown saves with him on the mound. That same bullpen had a 10.80 ERA in the first two games of the series.

Heathcliff Slocumb relieved and Rafael Palmeiro singled. Cal Ripken popped out, B.J. Surhoff grounded out and Jeffrey Hammonds followed with a two-run double, bringing the tying run to the plate. But pinch-hitter Harold Baines popped to shortstop, ending Baltimore’s comeback bid.

“He didn’t make a lot of mistakes. That’s why he threw eight innings,” Berroa said of Fassero. “When a pitcher throws a good game, there’s nothing you can do.”

Rich Amaral, a surprise starter in the leadoff spot, had two hits and scored two runs, and solo homers by Jay Buhner and Paul Sorrento off Terry Mathews made it 4-0 in the ninth.

The crowd at Camden Yards booed lustily after the second homer. It was the same treatment the Seattle bullpen got in the Kingdome during the first two games.

“Unfortunately they hit a couple out late or we’d still be playing,” Baltimore manager Davey Johnson said.

The Orioles were seeking to duplicate the NL sweeps by Atlanta and Florida, but instead were shut down by Fassero.

Making his first postseason start, Fassero struggled in the first and third innings. But he settled down after that.

“I was a little nervous those first three innings. I was rushing and had problems settling down,” Fassero said. “I finally settled down and got into my groove.”

Given the state of the Seattle bullpen, Piniella wasn’t going to yank Fassero until absolutely necessary.

“We were going to let him go as far as he could go,” Piniella said.

Fassero struck out three, walked four and outpitched Jimmy Key, who was looking to close out a playoff series for the third time in his career. Key, whose previous postseason start was the World Series clincher for the Yankees last October, allowed two runs and eight hits in 4 2-3 innings.

Fassero threw 30 pitches in the bottom of the first, escaping a bases-loaded jam by getting Surhoff to hit a comebacker on a 3-2 pitch. The ball struck the pitcher’s foot, and Fassero couldn’t locate it at first but recovered just in time to throw Surhoff out.

“My first instinct when it went off my foot was to look up and look all around,” Fassero said. “Finally I ran out of places and looked straight down and saw it there.”

Seattle went up 1-0 in the third on a single by Amaral and an RBI double by Kelly. Amaral started because of he had been 11-for-25 against Key in his career.

A single by Brady Anderson and a double by Roberto Alomar put runners at second and third with no outs in the Baltimore half, but Fassero again worked out of trouble, striking out Berroa and Ripken in the process.

“At that point I had to figure out how to get out of that inning just giving up one run,” Fassero said.

He did better than that.

“That’s outstanding pitching against some good hitters,” Piniella said.