MOYER FALLS 2 OUTS SHY OF PERFECTION
Texeira's HR Ends Bid for History
SEATTLE, Apr. 13 (AP) -- Jamie Moyer retired the first 25 batters he faced
before Mark Texeira ended the Seattle left-handers bid for a perfect game with a
home run over the left-center field wall. The dramatic end to the attempt
at history left Moyer unfazed as he easily retired Michael Young and Doug
Glanville to seal the 6-1 complete game win for the Mariners over the Texas
Rangers at Safeco Field.
Moyer was on cruise control all game, as illustrated by his complete game pitch
count of 92. Moyer went to three balls only twice in the game and,
incredibly, needed only three pitches to retire the Rangers in the second
inning.
Moyer's teammates took the pressure off very early. The Mariners took a
3-0 lead in the second on John Mabry's home run and increased the lead to five
in the fourth on Mike Cameron's home run leading off the frame and Carlos
Guillen's two-out RBI single.
The Rangers had few near hits, but there was a particularly dramatic moment in
the top of the eighth inning. The Mariners inserted Randy Winn in left and
Willie Bloomquist at third to start the inning as defensive upgrades for Mabry
and Jeff Cirillo respectively. Rafael Palmeiro led off the the inning for
Texas and sliced an 0-1 pitch from Moyer to deep left. Winn got a good
jump on the ball, and made the grab one step onto the warning track before
hitting the wall and retaining control of the ball. It's highly doubtful
that Mabry would have been able to make the catch.
The Mariners pushed across a sixth run--unearned--in the bottom of the eighth on
an Edgar Martinez single and the game moved to the ninth. Moyer fanned
Todd Greene on a 2-2 change-up to start the inning as the near-capacity Sunday
afternoon crowd of 43,269, which had been on its feet since Moyer took his
warm-up tosses, roared its approval. That brought Texeira to the
plate. Moyer tried to slip a 1-0 fastball past the Rangers first baseman
but Texeira was all over it and drove it over the wall, bringing and end to the
perfect game, the no-hitter and the shutout in one fell swoop. The crowd
momentarily stunned, recovered and gave Moyer a long ovation. The
40-year-old veteran waved off a mound visit from catcher Dan Wilson and calmly
struck out Young on three pitches and retired Glanville on a weak pop fly to
John Olerud, earning another long cheer from the crowd in the process.
Moyer's one-hitter is the second by a Seattle starter this year, and both have
come against the high-scoring Rangers. Freddy Garcia fired a one-hit
complete game shutout at Texas in a 5-0 Mariners win at the Ballpark in
Arlington on April 6. No other major league pitcher has allowed fewer than
four hits in a complete game effort in the young season thus far.
4/13/2003, Tex03-Sea03, Safeco Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 2 2003 Mariners 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 1 x 6 13 0 11 0 Rangers AB R H BI AVG Mariners AB R H BI AVG Glanville cf 4 0 0 0 .218 Ichiro rf 5 0 3 0 .294 Everett,C rf 3 0 0 0 .324 Guillen,C ss 4 1 1 1 .313 Rodriguez,A ss 3 0 0 0 .347 Martinez,E dh 5 0 1 1 .222 Palmeiro,R 1b 3 0 0 0 .222 Olerud 1b 3 0 1 0 .308 Gonzalez,Ju dh 3 0 0 0 .245 Boone,B 2b 4 1 2 0 .333 Sierra lf 3 0 0 0 .324 Cameron cf 4 2 3 1 .351 Greene,T c 3 0 0 0 .182 Mabry lf 4 1 1 3 .200 Teixeira 3b 3 1 1 1 .300 Winn lf 0 0 0 0 .391 Young,M 2b 3 0 0 0 .293 Cirillo 3b 3 1 0 0 .237 28 1 1 1 Bloomquist 3b 0 0 0 0 .000 Wilson,D c 4 0 1 0 .105 36 6 13 6 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Thomson L 0-3 4.0 8 5 5 3 1 84 45 9.00 Dickey 2.2 4 0 0 0 4 47 33 0.00 Cordero,F 1.1 1 1 0 1 1 21 14 5.06 8.0 13 6 5 4 6 152 92 Mariners INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Moyer W 2-1 9.0 1 1 1 0 6 92 65 1.23 9.0 1 1 1 0 6 92 65 Sea: Winn inserted at lf in the 8th Bloomquist inserted at 3b in the 8th E-Greene,T. HR-Teixeira(3), Cameron(2), Mabry(1). RBI-Teixeira(9), Guillen,C(7), Martinez,E(3), Cameron(9), Mabry 3(3). SB-Ichiro(2), Cameron(2). K-Everett,C, Rodriguez,A, Sierra, Greene,T, Teixeira, Young,M, Ichiro, Guillen,C, Olerud, Cameron, Mabry, Wilson,D. BB-Guillen,C, Olerud 2, Cirillo. HBP-Boone,B. HB-Thomson. GWRBI: Mabry Temperature: 70, Wind: none. Attendance: 43,269 Game Time: 2:27