Griffey ends epic with walk-off hit

Published 10:55 am Thursday, August 13, 2009

SEATTLE – Ken Griffey Jr. has had plenty of signature moments in Seattle since his Mariners debut as a teenager 20 years ago. So many, he’s lost count.

He hasn’t seemed to have lost his magic, though.

“I don’t really try to put numbers on moments. I just try to help the guys out as much as possible,” the 39-year-old Seattle icon said late – and we mean late – Wednesday night. “When you get a chance to play, you have to go for it.”

Griffey’s latest chance was as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 14th inning against his former White Sox, who had the Mariners locked in a stalemate. And Junior went for it, lining a single off the right-field wall with two outs in the bottom of the 14th to give Seattle a 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Griffey’s latest rekindling of his 1990s magic in Seattle ended the longest scoreless game in the Mariners’ 33-year history.

“It’s just destiny when he’s up,” winning pitcher Chris Jakubauskas (6-7) said.

Griffey shrugged that off with a smile, too.

“A couple of guys got hungry. I wanted to get them home at a reasonable hour,” he joked. “No, these guys battled all day – from 7 o’clock until, what 10:50? That’s the least I could do.”

Seattle, the lowest-scoring team in the American League, stayed 5 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL wild card. The Mariners host the AL East-leading New York Yankees for four games beginning Thursday night.

The White Sox hadn’t been scoreless for so long in one game since Sept. 22, 1975, when they lost 3-0 in 16 innings at California.

Chicago blew a chance to pull within one game of first-place Detroit in the AL Central.

Seattle ace Felix Hernandez struck out a season high-tying 10 in seven innings in the fourth scoreless start of his All-Star season.