The Mariners went 8-for-18 with runners in scoring position and left five on base. Oakland fell to 3-5 on its current homestand and registered its 41st home loss, which guarantees the club consecutive losing seasons at home for the first time since 1997-98.TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, ROOT (Seattle), CSN California (Oakland) PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH James Paxton (4-6, 4.03 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Raul Alcantara (0-1, 15.00) Paxton struck out eight and did not walk a batter for the first time this season his last time out but he was chased after 4 1/3 innings, allowing six runs and nine hits. Seattle remained 3½ games back.
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In their last game, the Mariners won by a margin of 11 runs.
“Everybody is aware of what’s going on”, Nelson Cruz said.
“It’s an adjustment, but there were years before this one where I didn’t use the cutter, and we just had fastball, curveball change-up”, said Paxton, who had a no-decision.
It also gave Seattle a much-needed lift to start its final West Coast road trip. The Mariners are 51-37 in games where the opposing starter is right-handed. Mariners 1B Adam Lind sprained a finger on his right hand in the bottom of the second inning while making a diving stop of a ground ball. Drew Storen pitched one inning in relief and gave up Oakland’s first run on two hits and an error. It started ripping up again, but we’ve kind of figured out a way to keep it down, and it should work a lot better now. It was up and down the lineup. “We feel like we have some guys that can be factors for us next year, and they’re proving (that they can be), and showing that they want to be”. “And that’s great to see”.
In New York, Mark Teixeira broke open the game with a fourth-inning grand slam, and the Yankees extended their winning streak. Seattle tacked on two more runs.
“Speed kills”, said Felix Hernandez, jokingly.
The Mariners struck for two runs in the first inning after putting runners at first and third with no outs on Aoki’s leadoff double and Seth Smith’s infield single.
Unlike past games where they would take an early lead and never add on, the Mariners continued to add to the lead. The Athletics are 0-5 in games decided by a margin of 10 runs or more.
Bruce Maxwell had a career-high three hits, including an RBI double, while rookie Joey Wendle singled twice.
LF Norichika Aoki and C Mike Zunino both connected for solo homers, which were crucial in the 3-2 win over the A’s. In his 42 starts against the A’s, the 2010 AL CY Young Award victor has averaged just under seven innings per outing while relinquishing a hair over two runs, making his 6-inning shutout start barely better than his average.
Kyle Seager slammed his 28th homer in the seventh off A’s reliever J.B. Wendelken to start a six-run onslaught. Seattle had done it four times previously, most recently in 2015.
Lost in the avalanche of runs was another win for Felix Hernandez.
Iwakuma (15-11) allowed two runs over 6⅔ innings to snap a four-game losing streak and become the third Japanese-born pitcher to have multiple 15-win seasons after Hideo Nomo and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
“The first inning I was a little wild, but I made good pitches after that and was not too quick to the plate”. “You don’t have the type of at-bats I have in the big leagues with the type of success I have for not being able to hit both sides”, Butler said.
Once Seattle pushed the lead to 6-0, Hernandez knew what to do and attacked hitters, getting easy soft contact outs. “He comes back with a vengeance”, Servais said. “I think the stuff is really, really good, it’s definitely an indication of what we thought and what I thought going into this week it would be”. “That’s he’s why he’s Felix”. So, the M’s looked to their young closer, Edwin Diaz to protect a one run lead.
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Nori Aoki hit his second long ball of the season on the first pitch of the third inning, just over the wall in right center field.
