Warm welcome
M’s deliver debut win for Brown
SEATTLE – Last-place Seattle welcomed interim manager Daren Brown by getting its first triple play in 15 years in a 3-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night.
Brown moved up from Triple-A Tacoma earlier Monday when Seattle fired first-time manager Don Wakamatsu after 11/2 seasons.
Brown became the 10th of Seattle’s 17 managers to win his first game.
Only one of the other 16 finished their Mariners tenure with a winning record: Lou Piniella. The only manager to take Seattle to the postseason left after the 2002 season with a year left on his contract.
Brown and the 19,943 in attendance were treated in the top of the fourth to the 10th triple play in Mariners history, the first since July 13, 1995, against Toronto.
Jose Lopez took a chopper by Oakland’s Mark Ellis and immediately stepped on third base for a forceout. Lopez then threw to second base for a forceout there and Chone Figgins’ throw to first baseman Casey Kotchman appeared to arrive at the same time as Ellis’ foot hit the bag, but first base umpire Cory Blaser called Ellis out. Ellis argued the call to no avail.
RBI singles by Lopez and Franklin Gutierrez with two out in the first off Vin Mazzaro (6-4) gave Doug Fister (4-8) and relievers Sean White, Brandon League and David Aardsma all the runs they needed.
Aardsma was perfect in the ninth for his 21st save in 25 chances – and sent Oakland back to eight games behind idle and first-place Texas in the A.L. West.
Fister won for the first time in eight decisions and 12 starts, since May 14. He allowed seven hits and one run in six innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Notes
Aardsma has allowed just one run over his last 10 games and is 5-for-5 in saves since July 11. … the Mariners placed starting shortstop Jack Wilson on the 15-day disabled list with a broken hand and selected veteran infielder Chris Woodward from Triple-A Tacoma. The 34-year-old Woodward was hitting .232 in 103 games at Triple-A.
Mariners 3, Athletics 1
| Oakland | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| Crisp cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .264 |
| R.Davis rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .278 |
| K.Suzuki c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .254 |
| Cust dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .287 |
| Kouzmanoff 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .268 |
| M.Ellis 2b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .259 |
| Carter lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Larish 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .154 |
| Pennington ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .260 |
| Totals | 31 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Seattle | AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg. |
| I.Suzuki rf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .311 |
| Figgins 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .254 |
| Kotchman 1b | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .212 |
| Branyan dh | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .243 |
| 1-M.Saunders pr-dh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .234 |
| Jo.Lopez 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .239 |
| F.Gutierrez cf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .246 |
| Langerhans lf | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .214 |
| A.Moore c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .169 |
| Jo.Wilson ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .253 |
| Totals | 29 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Oakland | 000 | 001 | 000—1 | 7 | 1 |
| Seattle | 200 | 100 | 00x—3 | 6 | 0 |
E—Kouzmanoff (10). LOB—Oakland 4, Seattle 6. 2B—R.Davis (20), Pennington (18). RBIs—R.Davis (37), Jo.Lopez (45), F.Gutierrez (46), Jo.Wilson (17). S—Langerhans. SF—Jo.Wilson. RLISP—Oakland 3 (Larish, K.Suzuki, Kouzmanoff); Seattle 2 (Langerhans, F.Gutierrez). GIDP—R.Davis. DP—Seattle 1 (Jo.Wilson, Figgins, Kotchman).
| Oakland | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Mazzaro L, 6-4 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 113 | 3.76 |
| Blevins | 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3.65 |
| H.Rodriguez | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4.76 |
| Seattle | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | NP | ERA |
| Fister W, 4-8 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 91 | 3.86 |
| White H, 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5.27 |
| League H, 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3.10 |
| Aardsma S, 21-25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 4.34 |
IR-S—H.Rodriguez 1-0. WP—H.Rodriguez. T—2:16. A—19,943 (47,878).