OAKLAND, Calif. _ A sweep looks great, but a series win is still the primary attainable objective for any team on the road, particularly against a lesser team.
Seattle shrugged off Friday night's disappointing loss that snapped their six-game win streak by winning the final two games of their three-game set at the Oakland Coliseum, punctuated with an 8-4 victory on Sunday in a game that was even more lopsided than the score indicated.
It was the first time in 15 games that one of their games was decided by more than three runs.
Wade LeBlanc gave the Mariners a quality start, pitching six innings, giving up three runs on five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts to improve to 2-0 on the season. Kyle Seager provided a big chunk of the offense, driving in four of Seattle's runs.
With the win, the Mariners improved to 62-54 on the season and have won eight of their last nine games and are 16-8 over the last 24 games. They travel to Anaheim to face a reeling Angels team that has lost 10 straight games, including going 0-9 on their recent trip that featured the Mariners, Cubs and Indians.
The Mariners took a 1-0 lead on A's starter Zach Neal in the second inning in a not-so-surprising fashion. Adam Lind came into the game, having hit two homers off Neal in his two previous at-bats in the Mariners 13-2 win on May 25 in Seattle.
The third at-bat featured the same result. Lind turned on a 1-2 fastball up in the zone, blasting it into the upper deck of right field for his 17th homer of the season and a 1-0 Mariners' lead.
The A's answered with a solo homer off LeBlanc in the bottom half of the second. Ryon Healy took advantage of a 1-0 changeup over the middle of the plate, blasting into the seats in left-center for his fifth homer of the season, tying the score at 1.
But Seattle took the lead for good in top of the third. Shawn O'Malley led off the inning with a double, advanced to third and scored when Seager jumped on a first-pitch changeup, smacking a double into the right field corner to make it 2-1.
It gave Seager 30 doubles on the season to go with 22 homers. It was his fourth season of at least 30 doubles/20 homers. To put that in perspective, Edgar Martinez had seven such seasons, while Ken Griffey Jr. had five with the M's, while Bret Boone, Raul Ibanez and Alex Rodriguez each had four.
Robinson Cano pushed it to 3-1, lining a first-pitch fastball up the middle to score Seager from second.
The Mariners continued to add on. They picked up another run in the fourth. A replay review of what appeared to be an inning-ending double play revealed that second baseman Tyler Ladendorf didn't actually make contact with the bag on the lead out. It meant that Dae-Ho Lee was safe at second. Seattle capitalized with O'Malley singling to center and scoring the hustling Lee to make it 4-1.
Seager broke the game open in sixth inning. With bases loaded and one out _ a situation Seattle has been less than stellar in this season _ Seager slammed a 1-2 fastball off lefty reliever Daniel Coulombe into the gap in right-center to clear the bases for a 7-1 lead.
Khris Davis continued his torment of the Mariners' pitching staff this season. Davis ambushed a first-pitch hanging curveball, blasting it into the left field stands for his 30th homer of the season that cut the lead to 7-3. In 12 games against Seattle this season, Davis has two doubles, seven homers and 12 RBIs. The A's cut it to 7-4 when Brett Eibner hit a solo homer off of Drew Storen, who had replaced LeBlanc to start the seventh.
