A’s rally to beat Mariners again
Sunday, September 21, 2008 12:39 AM PDT
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Daric Barton hit a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics rallied to beat Seattle 8-7 on Saturday, handing the Mariners their season-worst 10th straight loss.
Carlos Gonzalez led off the eighth with a single and advanced on Rob Bowen’s sacrifice. He went to third on Travis Buck’s hit off Justin Thomas (0-1) and scored when Barton lined a single into right.
Kenji Johjima homered and drove in four runs for the Mariners. After being shut out in its previous two games, Seattle pounded out 11 hits, getting most of the production from the bottom of the lineup.
It still wasn’t enough.
Bryan LaHair hit a two-run homer but Seattle’s pitching staff blew leads of 5-2 and 7-4. The Mariners haven’t won since beating Texas 8-7 on Sept. 10.
Jeff Baisley went 2-for-2 with four RBIs and Bowen also drove in two runs for Oakland, which has won six of seven and 10 of 14.
Huston Street (6-5) pitched two innings for the win, getting a double play to escape a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth. Brad Ziegler worked the ninth for his 11th save in 12 chances but it wasn’t easy.
Luis Valbuena was thrown out trying to stretch a double. Valbuena appeared to beat the relay throw from second baseman Cliff Pennington but third base umpire Bill Miller paused before calling Valbuena out.
Third base coach Sam Perlozzo screamed at Miller and interim manager Jim Riggleman came running out of the dugout to argue the call. Riggleman was ejected by Miller, the second time he’s been thrown out of a game this year.
Ziegler then walked Ichiro Suzuki but got Yuniesky Betancourt to ground into a game-ending double play.
