# 1990 Seattle Mariners season

The 1990 Seattle Mariners season was the 14th for the Seattle Mariners in Major League Baseball. Under second-year manager Jim Lefebvre, they finished fifth in the American League West at 77–85 (.475). It was the second-best record in the M's history up to that point in time; the win total was one behind the club record set in 1987. The Mariners hit six grand slams, the most in MLB in 1990.

## Offseason

* November 13, 1989: Jeff Schaefer was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.
* December 7, 1989: Pete O'Brien was signed as free agent by the Mariners.

## Regular season

* June 2: Randy Johnson threw a no-hitter versus the Detroit Tigers, the first for the franchise. He was also the tallest pitcher (6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)) in Major League history to throw a no-hitter. It was the 2101st game in Mariners history, played on a Saturday night in the Kingdome.
* September 14: Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the first inning against the California Angels. Through 2022, it remains the only occurrence of consecutive homers by a father and son in MLB history.

### Opening Day starters

* Scott Bankhead
* Greg Briley
* Darnell Coles
* Alvin Davis
* Brian Giles
* Ken Griffey Jr.
* Jeffrey Leonard
* Pete O'Brien
* Harold Reynolds
* Dave Valle

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Oakland Athletics | 103 | 59 | .636 | — | 51‍–‍30 | 52‍–‍29 |
| Chicago White Sox | 94 | 68 | .580 | 9 | 49‍–‍31 | 45‍–‍37 |
| Texas Rangers | 83 | 79 | .512 | 20 | 47‍–‍35 | 36‍–‍44 |
| California Angels | 80 | 82 | .494 | 23 | 42‍–‍39 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Seattle Mariners | 77 | 85 | .475 | 26 | 38‍–‍43 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Kansas City Royals | 75 | 86 | .466 | 27½ | 45‍–‍36 | 30‍–‍50 |
| Minnesota Twins | 74 | 88 | .457 | 29 | 41‍–‍40 | 33‍–‍48 |

### Record vs. opponents

1990 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 8–3 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 5–8 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 4–8 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 9–4 | 4–8 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 10–3 |
| California | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 5–8 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 5–8 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–5 | — | 5–7 | 5–7 | 9–4 | 10–2 | 7–6 | 10–2 | 8–5 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 5–7 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 4–9 | 5–7 | 7–5 | — | 5–8 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 4–9 |
| Detroit | 7–6 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 8–5 | — | 5–7 | 3–10 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 5–8 |
| Kansas City | 3–8 | 8–4 | 6–7 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | — | 4–8 | 8–5 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 7–6 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| Milwaukee | 6–7 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 2–10 | 4–9 | 10–3 | 8–4 | — | 4–8 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 7–6 |
| Minnesota | 6–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–8 | 8–4 | — | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 5–8 | 3–9 |
| New York | 7–6 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 2–10 | 8–5 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 7–6 | 6–6 | — | 0–12 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 5–8 |
| Oakland | 8–4 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–4 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 12–0 | — | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 |
| Seattle | 9–3 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 8–4 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 4–9 | — | 7–6 | 6–6 |
| Texas | 4–8 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 8–5 | 9–3 | 5–8 | 6–7 | — | 7–5 |
| Toronto | 8–5 | 3–10 | 5–7 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 6–7 | 9–3 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 4: 1990 Major League Baseball Draft
** Marc Newfield was selected by the Mariners in the first round (sixth pick), and he signed on June 10.
** Bret Boone was selected by the M's in the fifth round, and he signed on June 8.
* June 18: Darnell Coles was traded by the Mariners to the Detroit Tigers for Tracy Jones.
* June 19: Mario Díaz was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the New York Mets for Brian Givens.
* August 29: Ken Griffey, Sr. was signed as a free agent by the Mariners.
* September 18: Rick Rentería was released by the Mariners.

### The Griffeys

* Ken Griffey, Sr. joined his son (Ken Griffey Jr.) to become the first father and son to play in a game together. The game was played in the Kingdome against the Kansas City Royals on August 31. The Griffeys became the first father-and-son teammates to hit back-to-back home runs on September 14.

#### Line Score

August 31, Kingdome, Seattle, Washington
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Kansas City | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| Seattle | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | x | 5 | 10 | 1 |
| W: Johnson (13-8) L: Davis (7-10) |||||||||||||
| Home Runs: Pecota (4) Attendance: 27,166 Time: 2:27 |||||||||||||

#### Batting

| Kansas City Royals | AB | R | H | RBI | Seattle Mariners | AB | R | H | RBI |
| Seitzer, 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Reynolds, 2b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| McRae, cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Griffey, lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tartabull, dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Griffey Jr., cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jackson, lf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Davis, dh | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Macfarlane, c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | O'Brien, 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Eisenreich, rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Buhner, rf | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Pecota, 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Martinez, 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| White, 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Schaefer. 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Jeltz, ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bradley, c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| NONE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Vizquel, ss | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 30 | 2 | 6 | 2 | Totals | 32 | 5 | 10 | 4 |

#### Pitching

| Kansas City Royals | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Davis L (7-10) | 6.2 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Sanchez | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 8.0 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Seattle Mariners | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Johnson W (13-8) | 7.1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Swift SV (3) | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |

## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Dave Valle | 107 | 308 | 66 | .214 | 7 | 33 |
| 1B | Pete O'Brien | 108 | 366 | 82 | .224 | 5 | 27 |
| 2B | Harold Reynolds | 160 | 642 | 162 | .252 | 5 | 55 |
| 3B | Edgar Martínez | 144 | 487 | 147 | .302 | 11 | 49 |
| SS | Omar Vizquel | 81 | 255 | 63 | .247 | 2 | 18 |
| LF | Jeffrey Leonard | 134 | 478 | 120 | .251 | 10 | 75 |
| CF | Ken Griffey Jr. | 155 | 597 | 179 | .300 | 22 | 80 |
| RF | Greg Briley | 125 | 337 | 83 | .246 | 5 | 29 |
| DH | Alvin Davis | 140 | 494 | 140 | .283 | 17 | 68 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Henry Cotto | 127 | 355 | 92 | .259 | 4 | 33 |
| Scott Bradley | 101 | 233 | 52 | .223 | 1 | 28 |
| Jay Buhner | 51 | 163 | 45 | .276 | 7 | 33 |
| Mike Brumley | 62 | 147 | 33 | .224 | 0 | 7 |
| Jeff Schaefer | 55 | 107 | 22 | .206 | 0 | 6 |
| Darnell Coles | 37 | 107 | 23 | .215 | 2 | 16 |
| Brian Giles | 45 | 95 | 22 | .232 | 4 | 11 |
| Tracy Jones | 25 | 86 | 26 | .302 | 2 | 15 |
| Ken Griffey, Sr. | 21 | 77 | 29 | .377 | 3 | 18 |
| Tino Martinez | 24 | 68 | 15 | .221 | 0 | 5 |
| Matt Sinatro | 30 | 50 | 15 | .300 | 0 | 4 |
| Dave Cochrane | 15 | 20 | 3 | .150 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Erik Hanson | 33 | 236.0 | 18 | 9 | 3.24 | 211 |
| Matt Young | 34 | 225.1 | 8 | 18 | 3.51 | 176 |
| Randy Johnson | 33 | 219.2 | 14 | 11 | 3.65 | 194 |
| Brian Holman | 28 | 189.2 | 11 | 11 | 4.03 | 121 |
| Rich DeLucia | 5 | 36.0 | 1 | 2 | 2.00 | 20 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Bill Swift | 55 | 128.0 | 6 | 4 | 2.39 | 42 |
| Russ Swan | 11 | 47.0 | 2 | 3 | 3.64 | 15 |
| Gary Eave | 8 | 30.0 | 0 | 3 | 4.20 | 16 |
| Scott Bankhead | 4 | 13.0 | 0 | 2 | 11.08 | 10 |
| Mike Gardiner | 5 | 12.2 | 0 | 2 | 10.66 | 6 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Mike Schooler | 49 | 1 | 4 | 30 | 2.25 | 45 |
| Mike Jackson | 63 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4.54 | 69 |
| Keith Comstock | 60 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2.89 | 50 |
| Gene Harris | 25 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.74 | 43 |
| Brent Knackert | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.51 | 28 |
| Bryan Clark | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.27 | 3 |
| Dave Burba | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 4 |
| Scott Medvin | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.23 | 1 |
| Vance Lovelace | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 1 |
| Jerry Reed | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.91 | 2 |
| José Meléndez | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.81 | 7 |
| Dennis Powell | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Calgary Cannons | Pacific Coast League | Tommy Jones |
| AA | Williamsport Bills | Eastern League | Rich Morales |
| A | San Bernardino Spirit | California League | Keith Bodie |
| A | Peninsula Pilots | Carolina League | Jim Nettles |
| A-Short Season | Bellingham Mariners | Northwest League | P. J. Carey |
| Rookie | AZL Mariners | Arizona League | Dave Myers |
    Source: