What a weird one in Oakland Tuesday night. Behind Joe Saunders, the Mariners fell into a 4-0 hole in an absurd five-batter span to open the game, did nothing for the next seven innings, and then sent 11 to the plate in a 33-minute, five-run eighth to upend the Athletics 7-4.
Author: SPNW Staff
SPNW Staff
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Citing anonymous sources within the club and major league baseball, the News Tribune reported Tuesday that the Mariners have agreed to extend the expiring contract of general manager Jack Zduriencik for one year through 2014. Mariners president Chuck Armstrong, traveling with the team in Oakland, declined comment on the extension.
No starter has enjoyed the Mariners’ uptick in home runs more than Joe Saunders, who Tuesday pitches against the A’s, against whom he has done fairly well.
A quality pitching duel came down to the Mariners bullpen, which blew up. Again. This time, it was Carter Capps who grooved a fastball that Brandon Moss sent over the Coliseum’s centerfield wall, giving the A’s a 2-1 win Monday night in Oakland. The walk-off loss was the Mariners’ 10th this season.
The experiment in converting J.R. Sweezy from a defensive lineman to an offensive lineman is apparently a success, because the Seahawks flushed former third-round (2011) draft choice John Moffitt. He was traded to Cleveland Monday for defensive end Brian Sanford, who has played six games in three years.
The Mariners aren’t going to the postseason, but they have an 8-5 record against the AL West’s No. 2 club, Oakland. The A’s and Mariners begin a three-game series Monday.
Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak at Rangers Ballpark to 14 games with a two-out, ninth-inning, RBI-double that lifted the Mariners a 4-3 victory over AL West-leading Texas Sunday afternoon. Seager, 0-for-3, laced a fastball from closer Joe Nathan into the right-field corner, scoring Endy Chavez. Danny Farquhar then notched his seventh save, enabling Seattle
Yu Darvish has been a dominating presence in the American League since he joined the Rangers in 2012. But he hasn’t had great success against Seattle, going 3-3 in six starts.
Felix Hernandez’s run of ill luck against Texas continued Saturday when the Rangers battered him for five runs on five hits in the second inning, then hammered relievers Oliver Perez and Charlie Furbush for eight more in the eighth en route to a 15-3 discombobulation of the Mariners in Arlington.
The debut as a Sounders starter for Clint Dempsey went clunk Saturday in Houston as the Seattle defense against the Dynamos fell apart early, leading to a 3-1 defeat after goals from Giles Barnes in the 17th and 21st minutes.