A’s top M’s in pitchers’ duel

OAKLAND, Calif. – Scoring runs wasn’t going to be the only problem the Seattle Mariners had in taking their first loss of the season.

The mere act of getting a runner to second base proved the biggest challenge Tuesday night for a Mariners squad that struck out 10 times against Oakland Athletics starter Dallas Braden in a 2-1 loss in 10 innings.

On the few occasions the Mariners did reach base, lefty hurler Braden and his formidable pickoff move kept them glued to the bag.

Oakland finally snapped a five-inning scoreless drought by both teams in the 10th, when Mark Ellis hit a walk-off single off Mariners reliever Kanekoa Texeira to bring home pinch-runner Eric Patterson with the winning run.

Rule 5 draft pick Texeira, making his major league debut, had pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth. But in his second inning, he saw Kevin Kouzmanoff and Kurt Suzuki notch one-out singles to left field.

After a fly out by Eric Chavez, Ellis drove a ball to the gap in right-center to bring Patterson home to end it.

The loss ruined a solid night’s work by Mariners right-hander Ian Snell, who allowed only a run over six innings in his season debut. Relievers Shawn Kelley and Mark Lowe worked the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, before Texeira came on for the ninth.

Snell cruised through the first three innings, then ran into trouble in the fourth when Kurt Suzuki launched a tying solo home run to left field. Oakland followed that with a single lined up the middle by Chavez and a bunt single up the third-base line by Ellis. Third baseman Jose Lopez barehanded the ball but could not complete the play in time.

It appeared Snell would escape trouble when he struck out Travis Buck. But then he walked Cliff Pennington to bring up switch-hitting leadoff man Rajai Davis. Snell got out of it, though, inducing a mild comebacker to the mound and making an easy throw to first for the out.

That was as bad as it got for Snell, who was pulled after six innings with a pitch count at 101.

Snell retired the final seven hitters he faced and finished the night having struck out four and retiring five more on pop flies to the infield or shallow outfield.

It was the kind of performance that normally qualifies for a victory, but the Mariners simply could not get anything going against A’s left-hander Braden. The Mariners swung and missed with regularity during his seven innings and only scored because of the pitcher’s mistakes.

With one out in the fourth, Franklin Gutierrez doubled to left field and later advanced to third base on a balk call when Braden attempted a pickoff.

Braden, who earlier had picked Ichiro Suzuki off first base with a similar move, may have been a little rattled by the balk call. He promptly unleashed a wild pitch that enabled Gutierrez to scamper home with the game’s first run.

Kurt Suzuki tied it moments later in the bottom of the inning, and then the two teams settled in for several scoreless frames.