August 19, 2001: Mike Cameron ties Mariners franchise record with 8 RBIs

By August 2001, the Seattle Mariners were not just on a roll, they were on pace to challenge the major-league record for the most wins in a season. This day, they were playing on the road against the first-place New York Yankees (73-50) in front of a hostile crowd at Yankee Stadium. After losing the first game of the series, the Mariners won the next one by scoring seven runs over the first two innings. With the series tied, the American League West-leading Mariners (88-35) looked to remain undefeated in road series, a streak that had reached 20.

Hitting fifth for the Mariners on the cloudy afternoon of August 19 was five-tool center fielder Mike Cameron, who entered the game with a .261 batting average, 18 home runs, 78 RBIs, and a team-high 114 strikeouts. A day earlier, he went 3-for-4 and broke a dubious streak of 26 straight games with at least one strikeout. “He patrols center field with the best of them,” said Mariners manager Lou Piniella. “He has power, he has speed. If he cuts down his strikeouts, he’ll hit .300. There’s not much he can’t do, and he’s been getting better.”1

The two teams lined up elite pitchers: Jamie Moyer (13-5) for Seattle and Andy Pettitte (14-6) for the Yankees. Having Moyer on the mound was good news for the Mariners; he had allowed only two runs over 13 innings in his two outings against New York earlier in the season and was unbeaten in his previous six starts. “Since the All-Star break, Jamie’s pitched as well as anyone – anyone,” said Piniella. “He’s pitching as well as I’ve ever seen him pitch.”2 The Mariners’ skipper went so far as to declare that his team would have beaten the Yankees in the 2000 ALCS if not for Moyer’s absence because of a fractured kneecap. 

Pettitte, on the other hand, had allowed seven runs in six innings in his only start of the season against the Mariners, on April 25. Manager Joe Torre certainly hoped for a different outcome this time from his All-Star lefty, but his hopes would soon be dashed.

After right fielder Ichiro Suzuki started the first inning by flying out to center field, the second batter, shortstop Carlos Guillén, singled to left field and stole a base after another single, this time by the DH, Edgar Martinez. With just one out and two runners on base, Pettitte gave up his third single of the inning, to Bret Boone, scoring Guillén. The fact that all three hits were line drives was perhaps an ominous sign, as Pettitte’s strength was using his cutter to induce groundballs. 

New York’s first-inning troubles continued. Cameron came to the plate and hit a home run to deep left field on a 2-and-2 fastball, giving Seattle a 4-0 lead. Remarkably, it was the first home run Pettitte had allowed with runners on base all season. Pettitte gave up another double before getting the two other outs he needed to finish the inning. “It’s terrible,” he said after the game. “We had a chance to win the series, and to get out there and give up four is frustrating for me.”3 The Mariners’ early lead took the crowd out of the game. As Jack Curry of the New York Times wrote, “There were 54,339 fans at Yankee Stadium, and they sounded like 339 by the second inning.”4

Moyer escaped the first inning without allowing a run despite a double by left fielder Chuck Knoblauch. The Mariners’ second inning started with the ninth batter in the lineup, left fielder Charles Gipson. He tripled on a line drive to right-center, forcing Pettitte to face the top of the lineup with a runner on third base. Fortunately for the Yankees, he retired the next three batters and left the runner stranded on third base. Moyer came back to the mound and showed his talent once more, retiring the three Yankees he faced.

No more runs scored until the Yankees’ offense sparked in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, first baseman Tino Martinez singled, soon to be followed by a double by catcher Jorge Posada. DH David Justice then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Martinez for the first Yankees run. Despite this contribution, Justice ended the game quite frustrated: “I never had a good pitch to hit,” he said after the game. “But that’s what a good pitcher does, he stayed out of the middle of the plate all day.”5

After three scoreless innings, Yankees fans might have expected Andy Pettitte to keep the rest of his performance flawless. But in the fifth inning, as it began to rain, Bob Finnigan noted in the Seattle Times, “The footing on the mound had to be less than firm.”6 Following the pattern of the Mariners’ first inning, Pettitte allowed a line-drive single by Guillén, then another by Edgar Martinez, followed by a third single by second baseman Bret Boone. Cameron, coming back for an encore, didn’t hit a home run this time, but got another RBI thanks to another line-drive single to left. Pettitte finished the inning without allowing more runs, but the Mariners had expanded their lead to 6-1.

Pettitte’s struggles continued into the seventh. He allowed yet another line-drive single by Ichiro Suzuki and then walked Guillén before retiring Edgar Martinez. But this was still enough for Torre, who replaced his starter with reliever Jay Witasick. Unfortunately for the Yankees, the right-hander walked Boone to load the bases. Cameron then stepped to the plate, ready to do some more damage. He did so in spectacular fashion, hitting a grand slam to deep center field. Dave Niehaus, the Mariners’ broadcaster, announced the home run with his signature call: “Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it’s grand salami time!”7 Not only did Cameron give his team a 10-1 lead over the Yankees, he also tied the franchise record for most RBIs in a game – 8 – in the most dramatic way imaginable. “I went up there wanting to get one run in,” he told reporters after game. “I got four.”8

Moyer, coming back to the mound in the seventh inning with a comfortable lead, easily shut down the Yankees, needing only 13 pitches. The Mariners threatened again in the top of the eighth. Catcher Dan Wilson led off with a single to right field, but Witasick escaped the inning thanks to a double play and a groundout. 

With a win all but assured, Piniella replaced his starter with reliever Ryan Franklin, who walked Derek Jeter with one out in the bottom of the eighth. An out later, All-Star Bernie Williams, New York’s center fielder, gave his team a glimmer of hope by hitting a single, scoring Jeter. Tino Martinez extended the inning by drawing a walk, but the next batter, Posada, struck out looking, limiting the scoring to a single run for the Yankees.

Franklin returned to the mound in the ninth inning. He walked David Justice after a long at-bat, but the next three batters failed to produce a hit. Final result: 10-2 in favor of the Mariners, who took two of three in the series and reduced their magic number to clinch the AL West title to 22.

Moyer earned the win, having allowed one earned run over seven innings and 97 pitches. He would finish the 2001 season with 20 wins for the first time in his career. His season ledger, a 20-6 record and 3.43 earned-run average, earned him fourth place in the Cy Young Award voting. He started three games in the postseason, including the Mariners’ only win against the Yankees in the ALCS. He was 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA.

The star of the game, Mike Cameron, finished with four hits in four at-bats, including two home runs and a franchise record-tying eight RBIs.9 It was a special day for him, as he reflected upon after the game: “It was a good day for the team, a special day for me, my best ever in the big leagues, or anywhere in baseball.”10 To this he added, “I don’t think I had a day like that in Little League. If I did, it wouldn’t be any good because I did this in Yankee Stadium.”11

Although the Mariners showed they could beat the three-time defending champions during the regular season, Cameron recognized that doing so in the playoffs would be more daunting. “The Yankees are going to be the nemesis in October,” he said after the game. “We’ve said it before and we didn’t see anything in this series to change it, the road to the World Series goes through Yankee Stadium. We know that, and we’re prepared for it.”12

Cameron’s words proved prescient. Despite setting a record for the most wins by an American League team in a single season (116), the Mariners lost in the ALCS to the Yankees, four games to one. This was their last participation in the postseason until 2022. As Bernie Williams predicted during that August series: “They can be beat. No doubt about it, they can be beat. And I think we’ve got the team to do it.”13

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball Reference.com and Retrosheet.org, and the following:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200108190.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2001/B08190NYA2001.htm

Associated Press, “Cameron Powers Mariners Past Yankees,” New Bedford (Massachusetts) Standard-Times, August 20, 2001. https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/sports/2001/08/20/cameron-powers-mariners-past-yankees/50337192007/.

Photo credit: Mike Cameron, courtesy of the Seattle Mariners.

Notes

1 Larry LaRue, “Cameron, M’s Make Statement,” Tacoma News Tribune, August 20, 2001: 19.

2 LaRue.

3 Buster Olney, “Pettitte Loses Rubber Game, as Teams Split Mind Games,” New York Times, August 20, 2001: 39.

4 Jack Curry, “Cameron and Friends Grab Yanks’ Attention,” New York Times, August 20, 2001: 40.

5 Olney.

6 Bob Finnigan, “Lights, Cameron, Action,” Seattle Times, August 20, 2001: E1.

7 Teren Kowatsch, “Seattle Mariners Celebrate Anniversary of Legend’s Historic Day,” Sports Illustrated, August 20, 2024.

8 LaRue.

9 Cameron’s eight RBIs tied Alvin Davis (1986) and Mike Blowers (1995) for the Mariners’ single-game record.

10 Finnigan.

11 Curry, “Cameron and Friends Grab Yanks’ Attention.”

12 Finnigan.

13 Olney, “Pettitte Loses Rubber Game, as Teams Split Mind Games.”