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Seattle Mariners

Athletics shut out Mariners

Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics' Josh Willingham, right, is followed back to the dugout by Hideki Matsui, center, and Coco Crisp after Willingham's three-run home run against the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011, in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Trevor Cahill and two relievers held Seattle to just four hits while Josh Willingham and Scott Sizemore hit home runs in the Oakland Athletics 7-0 rout of the Mariners on Tuesday night. After allowing a pair of singles in the first inning, Cahill (12-14) retired the next 13 batters in a row. No base-runner advanced past second base. He struck out seven and walked one. Craig Breslow and Jerry Blevins each pitched a perfect inning to close out the four-hitter. Cahill’s 40 career wins in his first three seasons are second most in Oakland history — behind Vida Blue’s 42 — for a pitcher before his 24th birthday. Mariners starter Blake Beavan (5-6) gave up seven runs and eight hits in five innings. He walked the second batter of the game, Coco Crisp, to end his streak without issuing a walk at 24 1-3 innings. It’s the longest streak of consecutive walkless innings by a rookie starter since San Diego’s Josh Banks had a 25-inning streak in 2008. Beavan’s 1.27 walks per nine innings are third lowest all-time by a rookie pitcher. That was the beginning of Beavan’s troubles. Crisp stole second, his 49th. That tied him with New York’s Brett Gardner for the league lead. Hideki Matsui singled to right and Willingham followed with his club-leading 29th, a three-run shot that caromed off the left-field, second-deck facade for a 3-0 lead. The A’s pushed a couple more runs across in the third. Willingham drew a one-out walk and David DeJesus singled to left. Scott Sizemore singled to right, scoring Willingham and sending DeJesus to third. DeJesus scored on Kurt Suzuki’s sac-fly to deep left for a 5-0 lead. Matsui opened the fifth with a single and eventually trotted home on Sizemore’s two-out home run, his 11th, into the left-field bullpen.