Seattle - The Yankees let too much slip away in the smokey air of the Kingdome last night.

First they allowed a five-run lead to evaporate. Ultimately it was their 2-0 series edge that disappeared, wiped out by the bat of the amazing Edgar Martinez.

Martinez drilled a tie-breaking grand slam off John Wetteland in the eighth inning, his second homer and third hit of the game, and drove in seven runs overall as the Mariners beat the Yankees, 11-8, to force a decisive Game 5 in this American League division series. The seven RBI by Martinez is a record for any postseason game.

"It's a tough game to lose," summed up Don Mattingly, who went 4-for-5 with two doubles. "We would have liked to win today."

He'd still like to win today. David Cone will oppose Andy Benes in the decisive Game 5 tonight.

Only three teams in baseball history have fought back to win a five-game series after dropping the first two. The Mariners have won two straight at the Kingdome, which was packed with 57,180 fans for Game 4, and have beaten the Yankees in eight of their nine games under the roof this season.

"Late in the season, we had that feeling of coming back in close games," Martinez said. "When we got back here from Yankee Stadium, we had that feeling again. We're just going to keep trying and see what happens."

Martinez hit .391 with seven home runs and 20 RBI against the Yankees in the regular season and is 9-for-15 in the postseason. There are many offensive weapons in the Seattle lineup, but Martinez is perhaps the most dangerous. And Wetteland faced him with the bases full, the score tied at 6 and none out.

Moments after the Yankees tied the score on a two-out wild pitch by Norm Charlton in the top of the eighth, Wetteland walked Vince Coleman, Joey Cora reached when Mattingly misplayed the second of his two bunt singles and Ken Griffey Jr. was hit on the top of his foot when he squared to bunt. Martinez then drove a 2-and-2 fastball from Wetteland over the centerfield wall to make it 10-6.

"Obviously you don't want to go 3-and-1 to the league's leading hitter with the bases loaded," said Wetteland, who forgot the count. "I failed to get the first two sliders over the plate and that put me in a hole."

One out later, Jay Buhner added a solo homer off Steve Howe for only his second RBI of the series. However, in the ninth, the Yankees scored twice on three hits, including an RBI single by Mike Stanley, and had the tying run at the plate when Bernie Williams flew out to deep center to end the game.

Griffey had homered off Sterling Hitchcock to give the Mariners a 6-5 lead in the sixth inning. It was his fourth homer in four games.

"An outburst like that doesn't take you by surprise," Buck Showalter said. "You have to score runs and you have to create as much of a margin of error as you can. We've done it the hard way all year. We've battled all season and we have another battle ahead of us tomorrow."

Scott Kamieniecki, who was 4-0 in five starts at the Kingdome, squandered a 5-0 lead, and the tying run scored on a throwing error by Mattingly in the fifth. But the blame for that blunder also belonged to second baseman Randy Velarde. Buhner opened the fifth inning with a single to centerfield and, after Mike Blowers struck out, Luis Sojo singled. With runners at first and second, Dan Wilson bounced a potential double-play grounder to Velarde.

Velarde scooped up the ball and took a few steps toward Sojo. But instead of tagging the runner, he pulled away at the last second and threw to first, getting Wilson for the second out. That would have been fine if the play ended there. Mattingly, however, threw to second in a wasted effort to get Sojo, and his wild delivery skidded past shortstop Tony Fernandez and into shallow leftfield. Buhner scored on Mattingly's error to make it 5-5.

"With Seattle and us, the teams are so close," Kamieniecki said. "I expected it to go four or five games."

It didn't seem that way at the start. The Yankees pummeled Mariners starter Chris Bosio, scoring three runs on a foul sacrifice fly by Ruben Sierra and a two-run single by Mattingly. Paul O'Neill tacked on two more runs in the third inning with his second homer of the series. It was the Yankees' 10th homer in four games.

Martinez hit a three-run homer in the third, and a sacrifice fly by Sojo trimmed Seattle's deficit to 5-4 by the end of the inning.

After Griffey's homer gave the Mariners a 6-5 lead, the Yankees tied the score in the eighth on a gift from Charlton.

After Velarde walked and Wade Boggs singled to center, with two outs, O'Neill worked the count to 1-and-2. Charlton then fired a pitch well in front of the plate that got past catcher Dan Wilson, allowing Velarde to tie the score at 6.

Jeff Nelson had relieved the battered Bosio after O'Neill's two-run homer in the third, and the righthander pitched four scoreless innings before he allowed a leadoff double by Ruben Sierra in the seventh.

Tim Belcher came in to face Mattingly, who already was 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles. Belcher got Mattingly on a pop-up to short and then retired Dion James on a grounder to second and Mike Stanley on a fly ball to center to strand Sierra at third.

Little did either team realize there was plenty of baseball left to play. And now there's one more game.

"It's all square, we're all even," Showalter said.

He wasn't comfortable saying it. By David Lennon. STAFF CORRESPONDENT

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