CINCINNATI -- Junior got the hits and made the incredible catch, yet his old team got along just fine without him.

That part hasn't changed.

Ken Griffey Jr. singled for his 2,000th hit and smacked into the padded outfield wall to steal a hit Tuesday night, but could only slow the Seattle Mariners as they rolled to an 8-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Joel Pineiro pitches 6 1/3 solid innings and also contributes with a two-run single.(AP)

Joel Pineiro pitched 6 1/3 innings and singled home a pair of runs -- his first major league hit -- as the Mariners won their first game against baseball's first professional franchise.

Griffey was the focus, though. Back in the lineup for the first time in 10 days, he put on the type of show that the Mariners saw for 11 years.

He had an infield single in his first at-bat for his 2,000th hit, part of a 2-for-3 night at the plate, and made a magnificent catch. He slammed into the wall in center to catch Ben Davis' sacrifice fly in the sixth, holding on as he did a backward flip, then popping to his feet as his hat flew off.

"That's just the way I am," said Griffey, still limited by a pulled hamstring. "I'll give you 100 percent. If I have to run into the wall, I'll run into the wall."

For that one moment, it seemed like old times.

"Great play," said Mariners manager Lou Piniella, who had Griffey for seven years in Seattle. "I thought the ball was going to go off the wall. I've seen Junior make a lot of great plays. It's good to see him back on the field. I hope he stays healthy."

For the rest of the game, it seemed like more recent times for the Mariners, who have lost Junior and Alex Rodriguez since 2000 but gotten even better, winning 116 games last season.

"There are only five or six guys still there from when I left, that's it," Griffey said, explaining why the reunion wasn't special for him. "So it's a little different because it says Seattle, but they're just another team coming in."

The Mariners scored twice in the third off Chris Reitsma (3-4), on Jeff Cirillo's double and John Olerud's single. A four-run sixth put them in position to cruise.

Olerud started the rally with a two-out double, his third hit, and scored on Carlos Guillen's single. Davis had to settle for a sacrifice fly when he was robbed by Griffey, and Pineiro (6-3) singled sharply to left to drive in the last two runs.

Guillen also hit a solo homer, his seventh, and Cirillo doubled home another run as the Mariners' struggling offense completed a breakout night.

Pineiro also flied out twice, making solid contact in all three at-bats.

"Not bad for the first time ever," said Pineiro, 23, who batted twice during spring training and struck out. "When I got to first base, I couldn't talk. Sean Casey said, 'You've got a nice swing.' He's an awesome guy."

Pineiro, who pitched his first career shutout in his last start, let the Reds load the bases in the seventh. He struck out Adam Dunn on a high changeup, and Ryan Franklin then got Austin Kearns to ground into a double play to end the Reds' last threat.

There were plenty of story lines to the Mariners' first visit Cincinnati -- the Boone family reunion, Piniella returning to the city where he won a World Series championship in 1990.

Mariners second baseman Bret Boone is the brother of Aaron, the Reds' third baseman. Both are sons of Cincinnati manager Bob Boone. Tuesday was the first time all three were in the same major league game.

Junior overshadowed all of it, though no one knew until a few hours before the game whether he would play. A strained hamstring had limited him to four pinch-hit appearances in the last 10 days.

He lashed one line drive after another during batting practice and dashed through an obstacle course in the outfield without problem, convincing Boone to put him in the lineup.

Griffey missed six weeks with a torn ligament in his right knee and has been limited the last 10 days by the pulled hamstring, so the Reds are being very cautious.

His spinning, 15-foot single off the end of the bat in the first inning got his 2,000th hit and got father Ken Sr. cackling in the press box over the diminutive single.

"I was going to tell him, 'Your 2,000th hit should be a ringing double somewhere instead of a chopper in front of the plate,"' Piniella said.

At first base, Junior tipped his batting helmet to a standing ovation for the milestone hit. He became the 29th player to get 2,000 hits and 400 homers, joining Barry Bonds, Fred McGriff and Rafael Palmeiro as active players at the mark.

"I learned from Mr. Tiger Woods how to spin a ball like that," Griffey said. "I hit it, said I'd better be careful, the pitcher called it, I just kept running and it just happened."

Before the game, Piniella fondly recalled how the Reds packed the stadium in 1990, when he led them to a World Series championship.

Times have changed. The Reds' most attractive interleague series of the season drew only 26,654 fans, another disappointment for a team handcuffed financially by a 70,000-fan drop in attendance.

Notes

• Seattle RHP Paul Abbott has a torn labrum in his right shoulder and will have surgery later this month, ending his season. A medical exam revealed the tear. Abbott, 34, went on the disabled list May 7 with a sore throwing shoulder. He appeared in seven games this season, including five starts, going 1-3 with an 11.96 ERA.
• The Reds reassigned Kasey McKeon, director of amateur scouting, to the role of AL scout. His father, Jack, was fired as the Reds' manager after the 2000 season.
• Two fans were arrested for going on top of the dugouts during the game.
• Griffey had 1,742 of his hits and 398 of his 462 homers with Seattle.

AP NEWS The Associated Press News Service

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