University Southern California Trojans
Prior Dazzles As Cubs Shut Out Mariners, 2-0
June 10, 2002 | Baseball
June 10, 2002
SEATTLE (AP) -- Sammy Sosa has a perfect memory to go along with his perfect swing.
Sosa returned to Seattle, where he homered off Randy Johnson in the Kingdome Sept. 21, 1990, when he played for the Chicago White Sox, and hit his 21st homer in a 2-0 victory for the Chicago Cubs over the Mariners on Friday night.
"That was a long time ago," the Cubs slugger said with a smile. "I hit it to left field. I think it was a 3-and-2 count. I think I remember very good."
Rookie right-hander Mark Prior had a career-high 11 strikeouts and allowed four hits in seven innings.
"The kid is unbelievable," Sosa said. "That was a tremendous performance. When you see a guy who throws 95, 96, 97. These are pros. The kid is going to be OK."
Sosa took over the major-league home run lead from Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. He homered on Joel Pineiro's first pitch of the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie.
Fred McGriff hit his 10th homer of the season off Pineiro with two out in the eighth.
Sosa also doubled in his first regular-season game at Safeco Field. He went 0-for-2 for the National League at Safeco in last summer's All-Star game.
In the first game between the Cubs and the Mariners, Prior (2-1) made up for a poor performance in Houston last Saturday, when he lasted just 3 2/3 innings and gave up seven runs.
"I think the biggest thing for me was a better mental approach to the game," Prior said. "I felt I got back to my old self again and hopefully I can keep building on that."
Making his fourth start since being called up from Triple-A Iowa May 22, Prior dazzled the Mariners with his curve and a fastball clocked at 99 mph.
In his career-high seven innings, Prior threw 124 pitches, 86 for strikes, and walked one.
"I was just much more mentally focused, I think," Prior said. "I think I kind of got away with what I needed to do against Houston. I was looking at hitters and seeing who they were, kind of getting wrapped up at seeing these guys on TV. I think tonight I just went out there and made a conscious effort just not to look anywhere above their waist."
Prior, Kyle Farnsworth and closer Antonio Alfonseca combined to pitch the Cubs' fifth shutout of the season, with Alfonseca getting his 10th save in 12 opportunities. Farnsworth had two strikeouts in the eighth.
The Mariners' lead in the AL West was cut to one game by Anaheim, which beat Cincinnati 4-3 on Friday night.
Seattle manager Lou Piniella didn't want to give Prior too much credit.
"He threw the ball well," Piniella said. "The problem is I've been saying that about too many pitchers."
Mark McLemore of the Mariners agreed.
"What was this, his fourth start?" McLemore said of Prior. "I'm not going to say he is the next Nolan Ryan. But he did what he wanted to do with us."
The Cubs handed Pineiro (4-3) his third consecutive loss. In 7 2/3 innings, Pineiro gave up two runs on seven hits and four walks, with four strikeouts.
McGriff's homer to right in the eighth gave him 458 for his career. It was his 20th homer against the Mariners. Sosa's homer was his 471st.
The Mariners opened the fourth with singles by Bret Boone and John Olerud to put runners at the corners, but Prior got Ruben Sierra to foul out to third base, struck out Mike Cameron and got Desi Relaford to end the inning on a popup to shortstop.
Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki saw his 15-game hitting streak came to an end. Suzuki, who came into the game leading the majors with a .384 batting average, went 0-for-4.
