Griffey, Ms Blast Twins Pen

The Seattle Mariners gave rookie pitchers Gary Rath and Rob Radlosky a rude greeting Tuesday night.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his major league-leading 18th homer and Seattle scored eight runs in the fourth inning off the two rookies to rout Minnesota 15-5, snapping the Twins' four-game winning streak.

Radlosky, called up from Triple-A Salt Lake City earlier in the day, was making his major league debut. Rath, called up from the same team last week, was making his first start in the majors.

"Nobody on our team had anything on those guys," Mieske said. "But there's so much hitting experience on this team that we helped each other. Guys were coming back to the dugout telling everyone about their stuff."

The reports were obviously accurate.

It took a while for the Mariners to get to Rath, who didn't allow a hit until his 11th batter. But they wasted no such time in tagging Radlosky.

Radlosky, a right-handed reliever, entered the game in the fourth after Rath allowed the first five Mariners to reach base and Seattle had scored three runs to cut Minnesota's lead to 4-3.

Radlosky, one of 12 rookies on the Twins' 25-man roster, didn't record an out until he'd given up an RBI single, a run-scoring double and a three-run homer.

He gave up an RBI single to Brian Hunter and a run-scoring double to Alex Rodriguez before Griffey hit a shot that curled just inside the left-field foul pole for an 8-4 Seattle lead.

"It's Ken Griffey," Radlosky said. "It was outside, low and away. That's Ken Griffey for you."

The inning began when Butch Huskey singled, took second on a balk, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Matt Mieske's single. Russ Davis followed with his 11th homer. Radlosky relieved Rath after David Bell drew a walk and Dan Wilson singled.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I was nervous in my first Triple-A start this ear," Radlosky said.

A week ago, Rath and Radlosky were teammates in Salt Lake City. Now they're in a different world.

"A week ago we were sitting there trying to get Las Vegas out," Rath said. "Now we're trying to get Ken Griffey out. I already made up my mind that he was going to hit the ball hard."

He wasn't the only one.

Huskey's two-run homer, his seventh of the season, and David Bell's RBI single off Radlosky made it 11-4 in the sixth.

The Twins took an early 4-0 lead, scoring twice in the first and third innings off left-hander John Halama (3-2), who won his first start of the season despite giving up six hits, five walks and four runs in five innings.

"The third inning, I said, `Look, you've got yourself a four-run lead. You're already at 70 pitches. You want to be around to give yourself a chance to win, get aggressive, throw strikes, challenge the hitters,' " Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. "And that's what he did."

Torri Hunter scored all the way from first on Brent Gates' single when left fielder Brian Hunter's throw hit him in the back as he was sliding into third and bounced into the Twins' dugout. Halama then walked three straight batters, sending Gates home.

Javier Valentin, who left the bases full when he lined out in the first, also fouled out with the bases loaded in the third. However, Ron Coomer tagged up and scored on the play.

Marty Cordova's homer off Rafael Carmona in the seventh made it 11-5. The Mariners scored four in the ninth off Sampson, including three on Mieske's third homer of the year.

"Our offense is a long-ball offense," Piniella said. "We've been doing a better job lately of manufacturing runs, but the long ball is still what we rely on."

Notes: