Mariners
Quick fizzle: Mariners slammed by Red Sox

By Bob Sherwin
Seattle Times staff reporter

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES Ryan Franklin, left, wipes his brow during a meeting on the mound with fellow players in the sixth inning last night against the Boston Red Sox. Franklin did not allow a hit through three innings before being roughed up in the fourth and sixth.

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It didn't seem possible — not against the red-hot Red Sox with Curt Schilling on the mound — but as late as the sixth inning last night the Mariners were battling tooth-and-nail with Boston.

Then along came Manny Ramirez.

Ramirez was the power source for the Red Sox, homering twice — including a grand slam, with five runs batted in as the Red Sox rolled to a 13-2 victory. His seventh-inning slam off reliever Aaron Taylor was career No. 17, tying him for fifth most all-time.

"He has hit a lot of those, not just a rumdum like me serving them up," said Taylor, a recent callup still not fully in rhythm after offseason shoulder surgery. "He's going to have a lot of hits and I'm going to have a lot of outs. But I'd like my outs to be more than his hits."

The Red Sox batted around twice, scoring five runs in the sixth and six in the seventh to break the game open before 38,100 at Safeco Field. And no, Ichiro did not get a hit in his four at-bats, ending his 14-game hitting streak and holding him at 229 hits in his quest of George Sisler's season hit record of 257.

Inexplicably, the score was tied at 2-2 entering the sixth. The Red Sox have 33 more wins than the Mariners, have won 21 of their last 24 games and are chasing the New York Yankees in the AL East. The Mariners have lost eight of their last nine.

The Red Sox started Curt Schilling (19-6) against Ryan Franklin (3-15), who has not won since June 5. Schilling went seven innings, allowing four hits, two runs, walking none and striking out five. He became the first pitcher in the majors to reach 19 wins.

"Schilling just continues to try to get better," said Mariners manager Bob Melvin, who was the bench coach for Arizona in 2001 when Schilling helped the Diamondbacks win the World Series. "He threw some pitches I hadn't seen before. He always had trouble moving his fastball but now he's picked up a cutter. He threw a two-seamer to Edgar (Martinez) and a few to our left-handers."

Franklin worked 5-2/3 innings, allowing six hits and seven runs — three earned. He became the first Mariners pitcher to lose at least 15 games since Erik Hanson went 8-17 in 1992. After the game he immediately left to fly to Oklahoma for his grandmother's funeral today.

"He's a tough kid," Melvin said, "but that does weigh on you."

The Mariners made an effort against Schilling, scoring first on back-to-back second-inning doubles by Raul Ibanez and Bret Boone. Both took outside fastballs and directed them into the opposite corners. Scott Spiezio's right-side ground out moved Boone to third with one out. Then Schilling fanned both Greg Dobbs and Dan Wilson.

In the third, Jose Lopez singled to center, and Ichiro advanced him to second with a ground out. Once again, Schilling got out of it by fanning Randy Winn and Martinez.

Boston tied it in the fourth. Ramirez hit Franklin's first pitch for his 39th home run. It was his 386th career homer, moving him into 45th place on the all-time list.

Boone brought the Mariners to 2-2 with a fourth-inning home run, barely over the right-field wall at 340 feet.

In the sixth, Boston opened it up. David Ortiz began with a first-pitch home run in the exact spot where Boone hit his, 341 feet to right. It was the 12th time this season that Ramirez and Ortiz have homered in the same game, setting a Red Sox record by two players. Ortiz has 125 RBI, tying Baltimore's Miguel Tejada for most in the majors.

With one out, shortstop Lopez made his seventh error in his 32nd game, booting a routine grounder by Millar.

"I was a little jumpy," Lopez said. "Boston got on fire after my error."

Franklin couldn't pull it back together as the Red Sox hit for the cycle in the inning. Dave Roberts had a RBI double, Johnny Damon had a two-run triple and — after Masao Kida replaced Franklin — Mark Bellhorn hit a run-scoring single for a 7-2 lead. The final four runs all came with two outs.

The Red Sox scored all six of their runners in the sixth inning with two outs.

A final highlight came in the eighth when Jeremy Reed, a potential high-average hitter for the M's one day, had his first major-league hit, a soft single just over short.

Bob Sherwin: 206-464-8286 or bsherwin@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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