‘It’s just destiny’: Ken Griffey Jr.’s pinch hit sends Mariners over White Sox 1-0 in 14

Junior does it again as M’s beat White Sox in 14

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 5½ 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.

Chicago had Jason Nix thrown out at home in the fifth inning on a dart-like, one-hop throw by Gold Glove right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, after he caught Alex Rios’ fly ball.

Rios, in his first game with Chicago after 809 at the start of his career with Toronto, singled hard off the mound on a hit-and-run to send Scott Podsednik to third with one out in the 10th against Mark Lowe. Two pitches later, catcher Rob Johnson fired to Beltre to pick off Podsednik.

Rios went 1 for 6 and struck out twice while batting third and playing right field in place of slumping Jermaine Dye. Chicago claimed the two-time All-Star outfielder and his mammoth contract off waivers from the Blue Jays on Monday.

At Boston, Josh Beckett pitched seven strong innings for his major league-leading 14th win, and Mike Lowell and Jason Bay homered for the Red Sox, who won their third straight.

Beckett (14-4) gave up two runs and three hits, including homers by Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames, and improved to 8-0 at home this season.

Emergency starter Zach Miner (5-3) gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 2-3 innings as the Tigers lost for the fourth time in five games. Scheduled starter Armando Galarraga was scratched with a severe sore throat.

At New York, Robinson Cano homered and hit a game-ending RBI single in the 11th inning for the Yankees. Chad Gaudin (1-0) worked two scoreless innings to win his debut for New York, which has won nine of 10.

Shawn Camp (1-6) went 1 1-3 innings.

At Cleveland, rookie Tommy Hunter (5-2) gave up six hits and struck out five without a walk over a career-high 7 2-3 innings as the Rangers bounced back from a 5-0 loss to the Indians on Tuesday with their league-leading eighth shutout.

Josh Hamilton had three hits and drove in two runs for Texas.

Fausto Carmona (2-7) allowed two runs and five hits over six innings and dropped to 0-4 in four home starts against Texas.

At Baltimore, Landon Powell homered in Oakland’s four-run fourth inning, and rookie Vin Mazzaro (4-8) allowed three runs, two earned, in 5 1-3 innings to post his second consecutive win after an eight-game skid. Andrew Bailey worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save.

Jason Berken (2-10) gave up eight hits and three earned runs in five innings.

At Anaheim, Calif. Gary Matthews Jr. put the Angels ahead with a three-run homer in the sixth and Howie Kendrick added another three-run shot in the seventh as Los Angeles finished the three-game sweep.

Grant Balfour (4-2) took the loss for the defending AL champion Rays, who have won six times in their last 40 games at Angel Stadium.

At Minneapolis, Joe Crede hit a three-run homer in his first game since Aug. 6, and Francisco Liriano (5-11), who last won on June 28 at St. Louis, allowed one run and three hits — both tying season lows — and struck out eight in seven innings.

Brian Bannister (7-9) allowed seven runs and nine hits in six innings.