Sat Apr 26 01:59:47 2008

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Three-run first sparks A's victory over Seattle

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Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Frank Thomas, who was signed by Oakland on Thursday, went 1-for-3 with a run scored and one driven in to lead the Athletics past the Seattle Mariners, 4-3, in the opener of a three-game set at Safeco Field.

Emil Brown and Ryan Sweeney each added an RBI for the A's, who snapped a six- game losing streak to Seattle and won for the third straight time and recorded their sixth win in seven tries overall.

Dana Eveland (3-1) got the win as he went 5 1/3 frames giving up three runs on six hits, while fanning three. Huston Street earned his seventh save of the season by walking one and not allowing a hit in the ninth.

Jose Lopez went 4-for-5 with a run scored for the Mariners, who have lost three in a row. Raul Ibanez had a pair of hits, one run driven in and one scored. Richie Sexson had the other RBI for Seattle.

Miguel Batista (2-3) absorbed the loss after he lasted only one-plus innings and surrendered three runs, two hits and five free passes. Batista left the game after facing one batter in the second inning, and Cha Seung Baek stepped in big time; he went six innings and gave up one run on one hit and struck out four. Baek also retired the final 15 batters he faced.

Trailing 4-1, the Mariners got some runs back in the sixth. Lopez and Ibanez singled and Adrian Beltre drew a walk to load the bases. Jose Vidro chipped in a sac fly to score Lopez and leave runners on first and third. Eveland was then yanked in favor of Santiago Casilla, who gave up a sac fly to Sexson, but kept Oakland on top, 4-3.

Street came in to pitch for Oakland in the ninth and walked Ichiro Suzuki, but got Lopez to pop-out on a botched bunt. Ibanez then flied out to center and Beltre grounded out to Bobby Crosby to end the game.

The A's got on the board first, as Kurt Suzuki led off the game with a single and Daric Barton's walk made it first and second. Newly acquired Athletic Thomas, in his second straight game with Oakland, smacked an RBI single to shallow left. Jack Cust then drew a walk and the bases were loaded, Brown followed with a five-pitch RBI walk to score Barton. A wild pitch from Batista scored Thomas, and Oakland was up 3-0 in the middle of the first.

Seattle managed to get a run back in the bottom of the first as Ichiro and Lopez had back-to-back singles. Ibanez's sac fly to center scored Ichiro and it was a two-run game.

Oakland tacked on another run in the third. Brown led off with a double, moved to third on Crosby's pop-fly and scored when Sweeney blasted a sac fly to right field.

Game Notes

The Mariners are 16-6 against the Athletics since the start of last season. That includes a pair of victories in a two-game series between the teams at McAfee Coliseum earlier in the season...Seattle's Lopez tied a career-high with four hits...Attendance was 40,845.