Thursday, June 13, 2002
Mariners 5, Cardinals 0
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — The Seattle Mariners won an argument and it saved Joel Pineiro's first major league shutout. Joel Pineiro pitched a five-hitter, leading the Mariners over the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Wednesday night in a game in which Eli Marrero lost a home run when third-base umpire Larry Vanover changed his call.
“I thought it was foul by at least a foot or something like that,” Pineiro said. “When he called it fair, I told Angelo (plate umpire Angel Hernandez), you know that was a foul ball.”
Mark McLemore and John Olerud hit home runs for Seattle, which got the best of the argument in the sixth when Marrero hit a drive into the left-field seats and Vanover ruled it was a fair ball.
Seattle manager Lou Piniella appealed to crew chief Randy Marsh and, after consulting with Hernandez and the other umpires, Vanover reversed himself and said it was foul.
“I was hoping that they would (reverse it) and they did,” Pineiro said. “So that was good. You could tell completely it was a foul ball.”
McLemore, Seattle's left fielder, lauded Vanover for changing his call. He said he had a good view of the play and it was clearly a foul ball.
“I thought that was very impressive,” McLemore said. “A lot of umpires wouldn't have changed that call. They make the call and that's it. Sometimes, it's an ego thing. But he showed me something. They had a conference and they changed it.”
Seattle catcher Dan Wilson jumped up and went down the line to go argue with Vanover.
“I thought it was foul,” Wilson said. “That's a big point in the game. Any time you can continue to shut the other team down, it's important. You never know there if a run kind of gives them some confidence.”
Pineiro (5-3), who ended a personal three-game losing streak, allowed five singles and walked none. Pineiro struck out six in registering his first complete game.
“That was very impressive,” Piniella said. “He had great command of all his pitches. You can't pitch any better than that.”
Pineiro threw only 105 pitches in winning for the first time since May 16. He faced only 29 batters because the Mariners had three double plays.
The Cardinals were blanked twice in a series for the first time since June 1995 at Houston.
The Mariners took a 4-0 lead off Darryl Kile (4-4) in the second on consecutive singles by Carlos Guillen, Bret Boone and Jeff Cirillo, and McLemore's sixth homer of the season.
McLemore was 1-for-15 in the series before his 362-foot homer to right.
In the third, Olerud put Seattle ahead 5-0 with his 10th homer of the season, extending his hitting streak to 14 games.
Kile lasted 4 1-3 innings, his shortest outing since 2000, the year he was a 20-game winner.
Kile gave up five runs on seven hits, with no walks and five strikeouts. He had won his last three decisions.
McLemore's homer came on a 1-2 pitch on a high fastball.
“I had gone away and I thought I could pick him off in there and he got me,” Kile said. “It was a good enough pitch, but he got me there and burned us. We got beat, man. That's what it boils down to.”
The Cardinals are 5-5 without Jim Edmonds, who has been out with a sprained right wrist since June 1. Edmonds is third in the NL with a .341 batting average.
“I'm not going to tell you we're not a better ballclub when he plays, but we've won five times without him,” manager Tony La Russa said. “So there is still a way to win when your key guy is not playing.”
Notes: Pineiro's previous longest career outing was 7 2-3 innings. He had done that twice. ... Kile leads Cardinals pitchers with nine homers allowed this season. ... Kile came out after two innings after a long rain delay against Los Angeles June 24, 2000, when he didn't give up any runs. On April 13, 2000, he lasted 1 2-3 innings at Colorado when he surrendered eight runs on 11 hits. ... Seattle has five shutouts and St. Louis has been shut out three times in 2002.
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Mariners 5, Cardinals 0 
