OAKLAND, Calif. _ Sure, the Seattle Mariners are in the midst of a stretch playing against teams with sub-.500 records, so that should work in their favor.
Perhaps it's instructive to remember that it wasn't so long ago they were below that mark and scuffling. The defeat Friday night against the Oakland Athletics proved that victories aren't guaranteed. And the 4-3 triumph Saturday provided a verifying reminder that few of them will be easy.
But it does help having one of the best young closers in the game to turn to in a one-run game in the ninth inning.
Rookie Edwin Diaz made it 6 for 6 in save opportunities be working a 1-2-3 ninth inning. He got help on a tremendous catch in foul territory from first baseman Adam Lind and then struck out Coco Crisp on a nasty slider to end the game.
Hisashi Iwakuma had a middling performance for Seattle, but improved to 14-7. Seattle (61-54) got another solid outing from its bullpen. Nick Vincent, Arquimedes Caminero, Tom Wilhelmsen and Diaz didn't allow a run in 32/3 innings.
The Mariners took the lead for good in the fifth inning. With two outs and Ketel Marte on second, Seth Smith dumped a single into left that scored a run. The lead was extended in one quick, smooth, vicious swing of the bat from Robinson Cano. As he's done more and more this season, Cano ambushed the first pitch he saw from Oakland starter Kendall Graveman _ a cutter over the middle of plate_and hit a low laser that carried well over the wall in dead center.
The two-run homer gave Seattle a 4-1 lead. It was Cano's 26th of the season. It was the ninth homer Cano has hit on the first pitch this season, tied for most in baseball with Chris Davis of the Orioles.
After posting his first 1-2-3 frame in the bottom of the fifth for a much-needed shutdown inning, Iwakuma didn't make it out of the sixth.
He gave up a towering solo homer to Kris Davis to start the inning that cut the Seattle lead to 4-2. It was Davis' 29th homer of the season and his sixth against the Mariners in 13 games.
The A's chased Iwakuma on a one-out double to center by Billy Butler that got by Leonys Martin and would have been a triple for almost any other player. The Mariners went to Vincent, but he left a first-pitch cutter up in the zone that Jake Smolinski lined into right field for a single. Butler got a good read on the ball and was able to score from second, just beating out a relay throw from Cano to make it 4-3.
Iwakuma pitched 51/3 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits with no walks and two strikeouts. It was a battle for him all evening. He gave up leadoff hits in five of the six innings he started, including the first four innings. Yet, he managed to limit the damage despite all that traffic on the bases.
The A's grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second. Butler reached on a leadoff single and eventually scored on Crisp's single to right field just off the glove a diving Cano.
Seattle answered in the fourth inning, getting its first run against Graveman. Nelson Cruz jumped on the first pitch of the inning, drilling a homer over the wall in right-center. Cruz's 29th homer of the year tied the game at 1-1.
