Junior hits No. 35
M's roll 10-3 behind Griffey's 4th homer in 4 games
Posted: Thursday July 02, 1998 08:34 PM
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Griffey went 3-for-5 with his 35th home run and three RBIs to help bomb Kile out of the game (AP) |
SEATTLE (AP) -- Junior is heating up. The way he's hitting this week, he
might even catch Mark McGwire by
the All-Star break.
"Junior's incredible," Seattle Mariners
teammate Russ
Davis said after Ken Griffey
Jr. hit home run No. 35 in Thursday's 10-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
"That's why they call him the best in baseball."
Griffey, the AL leader, homered for the fourth consecutive game and
tripled as the Mariners beat up Darryl Kile.
Davis also homered as Seattle hammered Kile (5-11) with 10 runs in the
first two innings.
"He just keeps amazing me," Davis said. "It just comes so natural for
him. He's the best player in baseball, by far. It's not easy to get a hit,
much less a home run. He's just blessed with great baseball talent. He's
got a great swing."
Last season's AL MVP hit a two-run triple in the six-run first, then led
off the second with a 369-foot opposite-field shot to left. Griffey, who
led the AL with 56 homers last season, is two behind McGwire, the major
league leader.
The homer gave Griffey six consecutive extra-base hits, one shy of the
major league record; he had a homer and three doubles in his last four
at-bats Wednesday night.
Griffey flied to left in the fourth inning, ending his streak, and also
made a sensational catch of Mike Lansing's
liner to end the seventh. He was 3-for-5 and finished the series 8-for-15
with three homers, three doubles, a triple and six RBIs.
"Junior's swinging the bat right now as well as I've seen him all year,"
Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. "He's staying right on the ball. He's
hitting the ball up the middle and to left field. Let's hope he stays hot."
Griffey declined comment.
Kile has lost eight straight decisions since beating Montreal on May 10
to tie a team record set by Greg Harris in 1994. He was tagged for 10 hits
and got just six outs, matching the second-shortest start of his career. He
went 19-7 for Houston last season and signed a $24 million, three-year
contract with Colorado.
"They jumped on his fastball," Colorado manager Don Baylor said. "They
didn't hit his curveball. He didn't use it a lot. He never got to. His
fastball they got to just about every time for a basehit, a home run, a
triple."
Kile said he felt fine warming up.
"I threw a lot of bad pitches and they took a lot of good swings," he
said.
Bill Swift
(8-4) won for the sixth time in seven decisions and improved to 5-0 against
the Rockies, his former team. He allowed three runs and eight hits in seven
innings.
"You always want to do good against your former team," Swift said. "I
have a lot of friends over there and you always want to pitch well against
them. I've done well against the [San Francisco] Giants when I've pitched
against them. So this was good."
After Griffey's triple in the first, David Segui and
Dan Wilson had
RBI singles and Rickey Cradle hit a two-run single. In the second, Russ
Davis followed Griffey's homer with a three-run homer, his 14th.
Colorado got an RBI double from Neifi Perez in
the third and a two-run homer in the fourth from Vinny
Castilla, his 25th.
Notes: The major league record of seven consecutive extra-base hits
was set by Cleveland's Elmer Smith on September 4-5, 1921, and matched by
Earl Sheely of the Chicago White Sox on
May 20-21, 1926. ... The Mariners were 7-9 interleague, while Colorado was
4-8. ... Griffey's six extra-base hits in two games tied teammate Alex
Rodriguez's team record, set this season. ... Kile pitched seven or
more innings in 31 of 34 starts last year. He has pitched seven innings 10
times in 19 starts this season. ... Colorado's bullpen allowed one hit in
seven innings. ... Seattle optioned right-hander Ken Cloude to Class AAA
Tacoma so he can pitch an extra start. He will pitch July 9 for the Pacific
Coast League team and July 13 for Seattle. The team called up catcher Raul Chavez from
Tacoma because backup catcher John Marzano
has a slightly sprained knee. ... Castilla went 6-for-11 with two homers, a
double and five RBIs in the series, and the Rockies bullpen allowed no runs
in 11 2-3 innings. ... Kile lasted 1 2-3 innings for Houston at San
Francisco on July 13, 1996.
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