A’s topple Mariners with five runs in ninth

OAKLAND, Calif. – Nick Swisher planned on having an easy afternoon Wednesday after Oakland manager Ken Macha told him he had the day off.

“I was going to use it to get my head right, and the next thing you know I’m up there hitting,” he said.

Swisher walked with the bases loaded to force in the final run as the Athletics overcame a four-run, ninth-inning deficit in a win for the first time in 48 years, beating the Seattle Mariners 8-7.

“The way things have been going, to pull off a win like this gives us momentum and confidence,” Swisher said. “The way it happened was cool.”

Mark Kotsay and Eric Chavez hit two-run doubles before Swisher’s walk. The last time the Athletics came back from four runs down in the ninth to win was in a doubleheader opener on July 4, 1957, when the Kansas City A’s beat the Chicago White Sox 5-4, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“That shows you right there how big a win this was,” A’s closer Huston Street said. “In order to score five runs you have to do a lot of things and get a little lucky. It was unbelievable. You saw everybody coming through.”

Seattle led 5-0 after three innings and was on the verge of sweeping its first series at Oakland since April 2001 before the comeback against Eddie Guardado (1-2), who blew a save for the third time in 34 chances, and Jeff Nelson, who walked Swisher on a 3-2 pitch.

Chavez drove in four runs as the A’s stopped a four-game losing streak. Street (5-1) got the win for Oakland, which began the day 1 1/2 games out in both the American League West and the wild-card race.

“When they got the extra run, I looked up and noticed a whole lot of people heading for the exit gates,” Macha said. “That was a rough start, but what a comeback.”

Swisher, who entered as a pinch hitter in the sixth, was in a 0-for-15 slide when he led off the ninth with Oakland trailing 7-3 and singled off J.J. Putz. Mark Ellis walked, and Guardado relieved and gave up a single to Jason Kendall that loaded the bases.

After the doubles, Jay Payton was intentionally walked. Scott Hatteberg popped out to the catcher on a bunt, and Dan Johnson reached on an infield single that loaded the bases.

“I didn’t bear down,” Guardado said. “It would have been nice to sweep those guys, but it was a bad day. It’s the first time this has happened in a while.”

Nelson came in, and Keith Ginter hit a grounder to third baseman Adrian Beltre, who threw out Chavez at the plate. Nelson then walked Swisher.

“Seven days off, and I come in with the bases loaded,” Nelson said. “I made the one out, and that 2-2 pitch was close. The 3-2 pitch was away. The inning happened too quickly. You have to make your pitches.”

Swisher was in a 5-for-56 slide before the single.

“I think I have been thinking too much and getting myself flustered,” he said. “I was kind of relaxed. I was looking for a good pitch to hit and ended up walking. It was a sigh of relief.”

Richie Sexson hit his 33rd homer, and Raul Ibanez doubled twice for Seattle. Ryan Franklin, 0-4 in his last nine starts against the A’s, allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

A’s starter Dan Haren failed to get out of the third for the first time this year, giving up five runs and eight hits in 22/3 innings. Haren had allowed six earned runs over 21 innings in his three previous starts against Seattle.

“It would have been a devastating loss,” Haren said. “Now there’s 20 games left and every one is important. Fortunately, we came back, and that will make it a little easier to forget.”

Ibanez hit an RBI double in the first and scored on a single by Greg Dobbs. Run-scoring doubles in the third by Ibanez and Jose Lopez around Beltre’s run-scoring grounder made it 5-0.

Chavez led off the fourth with his 23rd homer, but Sexson’s homer against Juan Cruz made it 6-1 in the fifth.

Kotsay hit an RBI double in the bottom half and Chavez had a run-scoring grounder. Jeremy Reed doubled in a run for Seattle in the ninth against Street.

Notes

The Mariners recalled infielder Ramon Santiago from Triple-A Tacoma. … The A’s are 18-7 in games decided in the last at-bat.