Lopez send M's over Giants 2-1 in 12

SEATTLE (AP) " Jose Lopez hit an RBI single off the left-field wall in the 12th inning after getting a run-scoring hit in the sixth that ended Randy Johnson's bid for win No. 299, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.

Seattle had scored one run in its previous 28 innings before San Francisco's Justin Miller (1-1) walked Wladimir Balentien leading off the 12th. Pat Misch entered and Russell Branyan singled off him, sending Balentien to third. Rob Johnson walked to load the bases before Lopez's shot that banged off the hand-operated scoreboard for his sixth career game-ending hit " and third this month.

It was the first time Miller had a run charged to him in six outings. It was his first loss since May 28 against the Mets.

Justin Vargas, who pitched seven innings, and Mark Lowe, former Giant David Aardsma and Sean White (2-1) held San Francisco to a season-low three hits.

One of them was a home run by Aaron Rowand, on Vargas' fourth pitch of the game. It was Rowand's second home run in three career at-bats against Vargas.

Thirty-four of the next 35 Giants went hitless. San Francisco has scored seven runs in its last five games, four of them losses.

This was probably the Big Unit's final outing in the city where he, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez led the Mariners into their heyday in the mid-1990s.

He went 130-74 from 1989-98 with Seattle, and won the first of his five Cy Young Awards here before an unpopular trade to Houston in the middle of a game in 1998. He has the most strikeouts (2,162) and shutouts (19) in Mariners history.

He's 45 now and parts of that long, flowing mane and goatee are gray. But for much of Friday, his results were very 1995.

With his fastball still reaching 94 mph and sliders biting at hitters' ankles, Johnson carried a three-hit shutout into the sixth. But then he allowed a single and a walk around his seventh and final strikeout. Johnson's pace slowed as he passed 100 pitches thrown. He began cursing at himself after continually missing the strike zone.

Finally, at the end of an eight-pitch at-bat and his 30th pitch of the inning, Lopez lined an RBI single that scored Balentien to tie the game at 1.

When he left one batter later with one out and the bases loaded, Johnson stopped just before the foul line near third base, took off his cap and waved it as he turned to every corner of the stadium. As the crowd of 38,520 roared, Johnson pointed his cap specifically toward the sky box of longtime Mariners president Chuck Armstrong. Armstrong had the same job 20 years ago when Johnson arrived in Seattle in a trade from Montreal.

Johnson walked three and threw 115 pitches, his most since a season-high 116 last Aug. 22 against Florida.

Brandon Medders relieved and struck out Franklin Gutierrez. Then third baseman Pablo Sandoval made the defensive play of the game. He fielded Ichiro Suzuki's high chop while leaping behind the bag and then firing a precise, off-balance throw home ahead of the sliding Kenji Johjima for a remarkable, inning-ending force out. That kept the game tied " and likely kept Johnson from career loss No. 165.

Johnson has allowed just five runs in four starts at Seattle's new home. His next attempt for No. 299 is scheduled to come Wednesday against Atlanta. He is trying to become the 24th pitcher with 300 wins, and the fifth since 1970.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu elected to rest Ken Griffey Jr. against the left-handed Johnson, ruining the theater of two of the biggest stars in Seattle history facing each other for the second and perhaps the final time at Safeco Field.

The crowd screamed when Griffey appeared with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth for his first pinch hit appearance for Seattle in at least 10 years. Griffey hit a soaring flyball that he and the crowd that was gone for a dramatic, winning slam, but Rowand caught it on the warning track in right-center field to force extra innings. Notes: Johnson has thrown more than 115 pitches only twice in the last three years. ... The Giants reinstated IF Juan Uribe from the bereavement list after he returned from a trip to his native Dominican Republic to visit his ailing grandfather. IF-OF Eugenio Velez was optioned to Triple-A Fresno.