A’s seem to own Mariners
OAKLAND, Calif. – Nick Swisher had a three-run double and drove in four runs to help Kirk Saarloos win for the first time in more than two months, and the Oakland Athletics extended their winning streak against Seattle to 14 games with a 11-2 victory over the Mariners on Tuesday night.
Marco Scutaro hit a two-run double, an RBI single and drew a bases-loaded walk for a career-high four RBIs. Eric Chavez had an RBI double and Jason Kendall and Frank Thomas each singled in a run in Oakland’s fifth straight win. The first-place A’s remained 5 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Angels in the A.L. West.
Scutaro is making it hard on the A’s to move him back to the bench when shortstop Bobby Crosby returns from the disabled list, perhaps as soon as today.
A fabulous fill-in during his three seasons in Oakland, Scutaro hit a sharp double down the left-field line in the second after Jay Payton singled and Swisher doubled. One out later, Kendall singled in another run to give Saarloos a nice lead.
Yuniesky Betancourt homered in the fifth for the Mariners, who matched their longest losing streak of the year at six games and are winless so far on their 11-game trip. They have lost 14 straight meetings against Oakland since beating the A’s in the teams’ first game this season 6-2 on April 6 at Safeco Field – their longest skid ever to a division opponent. If Seattle loses the series finale tonight, it would match the club’s longest streak against any team in franchise history.
The club record for consecutive losses against a single opponent is 15 to the Boston Red Sox during the 1977-78 seasons.
Oakland loaded the bases against Joel Pineiro (7-11) with one out in the first but came up empty-handed. Mark Kotsay and Milton Bradley hit back-to-back singles and advanced on a wild pitch before Thomas drew a walk. Chavez then grounded into an inning-ending double play to end the threat.
Pineiro, winless in last four starts and has lost his last three outings, didn’t get out of the fourth after allowing five straight baserunners with two outs – consecutive walks to Kotsay and Bradley followed by run-scoring hits from Thomas and Chavez before another walk to Jay Payton.
“Every ground ball found a hole and then I got wild,” Pineiro said. “Nothing clicked. I’ve been trying everything. It’s definitely not my year. I got frustrated in the first inning with two runners on and one. I got the double play and I figured, let’s go. Then it’s back to the same old thing the next inning. It falls down again. Every start has been frustrating.”
Jake Woods relieved and immediately gave up Swisher’s bases-clearing double to left.