Griffey hits No. 51; Royals win 5-2
Posted: Sunday September 13, 1998 12:24 AM
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- It wasn't the number of the homer that
mattered to Ken Griffey
Jr. as much as who threw the ball.
"I finally got one off Belcher," Griffey said Saturday night after homer
No. 51 was not enough for the Seattle Mariners in a
5-2 loss to Tim
Belcher and the Kansas City Royals.
"The guy's been pitching for 50 years. I think he faced Josh Gibson and
Ted Williams," Griffey said with a grin.
"That's not quite true," said Belcher, 37, who became friends with
Griffey when they were teammates in Seattle in 1995.
"But 50 years from now, I'll be just as proud to say I faced Ken Griffey
Jr. as I would have been to face Ted Williams and Josh Gibson."
Griffey, one of three players in major league history with consecutive
50-homer seasons, hit a solo shot off Belcher (13-12) in the third inning.
He needs one RBI to become the fourth-youngest player to reach 1,000.
"I've had remarkable luck with him," Belcher said. "I think that's the
first one he ever hit off me. The law of averages are getting in his
favor."
Jeff King, Johnny Damon
and Mendy Lopez homered for the Royals, who won their 67th game to match
their victory total of last season.
Kansas City took a 3-0 lead in the first off Jamie Moyer
(13-9) on Damon's leadoff homer, his 15th, and King's two-run shot, his
23rd.
Belcher allowed five hits and two runs in eight innings. He struck out
six and walked two. Jeff
Montgomery pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.
"He never gives in," Griffey said of Belcher. "He's in and out, in and
out, and never gives in."
Seattle's Joe
Oliver hit his fifth homer in the second, but the Royals countered when
Lopez hit his first major league homer in the bottom of the inning.
The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the sixth and got a run on
Chris Hatcher's infield out for a 5-2 lead.
The Mariners loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth on two walks and
Alex
Rodriguez's double, but Edgar
Martinez hit a line drive to Hatcher in left field.
Moyer allowed eight hits and five runs in seven innings.
Notes: Scott Leius of the Royals had an infield single in the first
inning to break an 0-for-21 streak. ... It was the fifth time in his career
and the third time this year that Damon has led off a game with a homer.
... Griffey has nine home runs in the last 19 games. ... The Mariners have
won the season series with the Royals the past two years after not winning
one since 1986. ... Moyer's previous loss was August 1 against the Yankees.
... The others with consecutive 50-homer seasons are Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire.
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