Seattle @ Oakland preview
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Sep 7, 2010 ) Seattle 7, Oakland 5
The Seattle Mariners broke out in a big way Tuesday night in a 7-5 victory against Dallas Braden and the Oakland Athletics. The Mariners hadn’t scored more than three runs in 11 consecutive games, the second-longest such streak in club history.
Seattle used seven singles, an error, a walk and a sacrifice fly to score five runs off Braden (9-11) in the second inning. The hits were not exactly rocketing off the Mariners’ bats - most took strange hops or glanced off Oakland’s gloves.
Braden call the outing “brutal to quite brutal,” but nearly got off the hook with a no-decision when the Athletics scored three runs with two outs in the ninth against Brandon League.
Mariners closer David Aardsma came in to get Cliff Pennington to fly out with the tying run on base, recording his 29th save in 34 chances.
The Athletics missed a chance to get closer to the American League West-leading Texas Rangers, who lost Tuesday but still lead the A’s by seven games. Texas has a magic number of 18 to clinch the division, the lowest magic number in the majors.
Seattle had lost six in a row to Oakland, last winning on Opening Day, but now has a chance to win this three-game series.
In Wednesday night’s finale, the Athletics will start Gio Gonzalez (13-8, 3.12) against Luke French (4-4, 3.64) in a matchup of two left-handers born six days apart. French turns 25 on Monday, Gonzalez on Sept. 19.
Gonzalez already has established a career high for wins in a season and leads the A’s with 144 strikeouts. He has won three in a row with a 0.95 ERA.
He is 4-1 in his last six starts with a 1.15 ERA. During that stretch, Gonzalez allowed the Rangers two runs in 13 innings and beat them twice.
In his last start Friday, Gonzalez threw six shutout innings in an 8-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. He allowed four hits and struck out six.
Gonzalez has not lost to the Mariners in Oakland and is 2-1 with a 3.93 ERA in seven total appearances against them.
French tries for his third consecutive victory.
The 6-foot-4 Kansas native gave up just one run and four hits in his last 14 innings, earning wins over Minnesota and Cleveland. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Friday against Cleveland and allowed one hit in the inning before leaving in the Mariners’ 1-0 win.
French has had trouble against the A’s, going 1-2 with a 5.89 ERA in five games. He has not pitched at Oakland since Sept. 5, 2009, when he gave up five runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings and lost 9-5.