The A’s finally scored their first run with two outs in the fifth on a single by Joey Wendle.
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“It’s huge, especially coming off a bad start in his debut, to come back and hold a team like that to two runs”, Vogt said.
Cruz, who scored twice, had all three of his hits against Graveman. It was Aoki’s second double of his three-hit day that also featured a walk. This was a balanced 17-hit attack that got two or more hits from seven players. So I think his stuff is really good.
3 straight wins! It’s an exciting but very nerve-racking time for Mariners fans, as we slowly climb in the American League Wild Card standings with just under 25 games left to play in this regular season. Graveman has a 2.64 ERA at home that is the third-lowest in the AL. He struck out just two but only had one walk after issuing four in each of his two previous outings.
Mariners: 1B Adam Lind left the in the fifth inning with a finger sprain, manager Scott Servais said. The ball was moving all over the place. Maybe that’s why the Texas Rangers slugger feels so comfortable just down the I-5 freeway at the Big A. They have 20 games remaining.
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. “He’s (allowed) a couple of runs, they score more than that and he ends up winning”.
After Paxton exited, Evan Scribner gave up a triple to Eibner with one out but pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
Instead, Seager whiffed on the ball for his 22nd error, and Athletics were on the board.
Kuma walked his first batter of the game, and paid for it when catcher Bruce Maxwell drove in the A’s second run with his third hit of the game, an RBI double.
The Mariners opened the scoring in the first inning when Nelson Cruz capped a 13-pitch at-bat by lining a two-out RBI double off the right-field wall.
Hernandez pitched around two singles in a 22-pitch first inning. Hernandez then retired 12 of 14 batters over the next four innings.
The move came shortly after the struggling A’s traded veteran Coco Crisp to Cleveland, and Butler said it did not come as a huge surprise. “So it was just sort of going back to what was working the whole year”. “I was with Zunino those years too, so he knows how to call my game without the cutter”.
In the third, Aoki had a leadoff walk, Smith singled and Cano walked, loading the bases.
When Sucre gets an infield single, things are going right.
“Speed kills”, said Felix Hernandez, jokingly.
The Mariners made it 6-0 when Ben Gamel beat the relay on a potential double-play grounder before Graveman finally ended the inning retiring Ketel Marte on a grounder to first.
The over is 9-2 in Seattle’s last 11 overall and is 9-2 in their last 11 on grass while Seattle are 2-6 in their last 8 Sunday games.
Zunino then led off the seventh inning with a 433-foot homer to center.
In St. Louis, Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty hit two-run homers in the fourth and Carlos Martinez pitched seven solid innings for the Cardinals.
The Mariners are now set and ready to play Game 2 against these A’s on Saturday afternoon in Oakland.
It appeared the bullpen might be in for a really long night as Daniel Mengden (1-7) ran his pitch count up early in the game.
“You could tell he was a lot more poised when he went out there”, Melvin said.
MINUS: We’re nit-picking here.
The Oakland Athletics are one of many teams who are trying to figure out a lineup for 2017.
“He got through it and getting through the sixth inning was crucial”, Servais said.
It was the Mariners’ fifth straight win and second sweep of the A’s in Oakland.
The Athletics are coming off of a hot pitching game where they recorded 12 strikeouts.
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First baseman Yonder Alonso tried to trap Lind after grabbing a Leonys Martin grounder, but Lind got back to second as Martin reached first. He yells “Outside” all of the time.
