Sunday September 4 at the Mariners

Opponent: Seattle Mariners
Outcome: W
Score: 6-4
Streak: W1
Record: 48-87
Rank: 7th
GB: 26.5

This afternoon's game was played before an announced crowd of 6, 503, the smallest attendance of any game the Orioles played all season.  To be fair I'm sure a lot of people in the Pacific Northwest had more attractive options on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend then spending a couple hours in the Kingdome watching two of the worst teams in baseball playing.

The fans that did attend that day got to see five home runs hit between the two teams.  Bill Ripken hit the first of these - a two run shot - in the third to put the Birds up 2-0.  The Orioles extended their lead to 4-0 on a pair of runs in the fourth that were NOT scored on home runs - one was on an RBI groundout by Jim Traber and the other was on a single by Terry Kennedy.

The Mariners got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run from Alvin Davis.  They added a second run in the fifth on an RBI single by Mickey Brantley and cut the O's lead to just one run on a solo home run from Jay Buhner in the sixth.  But the Orioles hit their second two run home run of the day - this one off the bat of Joe Orsulak - to extend their lead to 6-3.  A Steve Balboni solo home run in the eighth off of Gregg Olson (Olson's first home run given up in the majors) made the score 6-4 and that's how it ended.

This was the final game that the Orioles would play against Seattle this season.  The Mariners were the only team that the O's had a winning record against in 1988 - they went 7-5 in 12 games against them. 

I was still up in Delaware on this day.  Sabra and I got together again and went to see a movie that afternoon ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit?") before hanging out over at my friend Linda's house.