DODGERS GO LONG BUT END UP SHORT; MARINERS WIN HOMER-THON : SEATTLE 9, DODGERS 8.

Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer

It was American League mayhem.

Forget Oakland, where the Dodgers drew the A's into their nip-and-tuck style during their first two interleague games. This was the Kingdome, where the AL West-leading Mariners rock and none of the rules the Dodgers abide by apply.

The team from Los Angeles brought its weak stuff in here and played the game on Saturday.

``The American League game,'' Todd Zeile said.

The Dodgers lost, as Russ Davis' solo homer off Antonio Osuna in the bottom of the ninth gave Seattle a 9-8 victory in front of a thundering, heat-generating crowd of 57,345.

But they played the game.

``L.A. came in here with the reputation of having a pitching club and not scoring many runs,'' Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. ``But God Almighty they can swing the bats.''

The Dodgers, trailing 5-0 after three innings, came back on the strength of two home runs by Eric Karros and another from Mike Piazza. With 10 hits in innings four through eight, the Dodgers tied the game 8-8.

While they were disheartened by the ending, the Dodgers spoke of positives.

``We have that type of team to do it,'' Dodgers manager Bill Russell said. ``We can bang with anybody. The guys came back. That's something that's on the horizon. Even though we lost, we got a lot of timely hits and scored some runs. . . . This team is on the verge of exploding. A game like this can send you over the top.''

The Dodgers have been ascending for more than a week.

Including Saturday's 11, they've reached double digits in hits in four straight games and six of the past eight. This, after doing it just 15 times in the season's first 58 games.

Saturday was Karros' first two-homer game of the season. He was the third Dodger to go deep twice in a game this season and third to do it in the past six days. (Get it?).

Karros now has 12 homers on the season and four in the past four days. He has hit safely in eight straight games, batting .300 with 10 RBI and three runs in that span.

Piazza went 4 for 4 Saturday to extend his own hitting streak to eight games, during which he is 20 for 34 (.588) with 10 runs, five doubles, three homers and eight RBI. He is hitting .692 (9 for 13) in three interleague games and has four consecutive multi-hit games.

``It's nice to kind of feel like no lead (by an opponent) is safe,'' Zeile said. ``One or two runs used to seem like it was insurmountable. It seems like we're getting the meat of the lineup up there more, and guys are coming through.''

Saturday was just the second time ever the Dodgers did not win a game in which Karros and Piazza homered, a feat accomplished 23 times the past four seasons. It was also just the second time this season they lost in the 26 games in which they've scored five or more runs.

The Dodgers will take those odds.

``It was a good game,'' said Dodgers starter Ramon Martinez, who allowed five runs, including two solo homers, in a season-low four innings. ``We lost, but it seems like we've been hitting much better. If we hit the way we did tonight and the last couple nights, we're going to win a lot of games.''

The Mariners entered Saturday's game leading the American League in team batting average (.290), home runs (94) and runs (380). The Dodgers quickly found out why, or at least part of the reason why.

The all-cement Kingdome, especially when the air is hot with the breath of a sellout crowd, is a launching pad. A boon to the long ball, too, is the short right-field fence, a mere 312 feet down the line.

Martinez estimated that neither of the second-inning home runs he allowed (to Edgar Martinez and Paul Sorrento) would have cleared the wall at Dodger Stadium.

``It's like when you go to Colorado,'' Martinez said. ``You know the ball is going to carry a little more. You have to adjust to the park.''

One shot that would have sailed out of any park was hit by Ken Griffey Jr. off Tom Candiotti in the sixth, which made it a few rows into the second deck.

``Griffey just happened to catch one, and when he catches one you know what he usually does with it,'' Candiotti said of the man who leads the majors with 27 home runs.

Griffey's home run gave the Mariners a 7-4 lead, which was 8-4 by the end of the sixth.

The Dodgers scored three times in the seventh on a two-run homer to right by Piazza and Karros' solo shot to left. They tied the game in the eighth when Greg Gagne walked, went to third on Seattle catcher Dan Wilson's error and scored on Brett Butler's sacrifice bunt.

It was wild.

``These are the games we play all year,'' Piniella said. ``We're kind of immune.''

The Dodgers are not. They hope it's contagious.

``Hopefully, this is something we can continue,'' Piazza said.

They made believers of the Mariners.

Said Sorrento: ``The middle of their lineup is just as good or better than any team in our league.''