A's rally past M's behind Kielty's RBI double in 10th
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| Regular Season Series |
| Oakland leads 17-2 (as of Wed 9/27) |
| Thu 4/6 |
@SEA 6, OAK 2 |
Recap |
| Fri 4/7 |
OAK 5, @SEA 0 |
Recap |
| Sat 4/8 |
OAK 3, @SEA 0 |
Recap |
| Sun 4/9 |
OAK 6, @SEA 4 |
Recap |
| Tue 5/16 |
@OAK 12, SEA 6 |
Recap |
| Wed 5/17 |
@OAK 7, SEA 2 |
Recap |
| Thu 5/18 |
@OAK 6, SEA 3 |
Recap |
| Tue 6/13 |
@OAK 2, SEA 0 |
Recap |
| Wed 6/14 |
@OAK 7, SEA 2 |
Recap |
| Thu 6/15 |
@OAK 9, SEA 6 |
Recap |
| Fri 8/4 |
OAK 5, @SEA 2 |
Recap |
| Sat 8/5 |
OAK 5, @SEA 2 |
Recap |
| Sun 8/6 |
OAK 7, @SEA 6 |
Recap |
| Mon 8/14 |
@OAK 5, SEA 4 |
Recap |
| Tue 8/15 |
@OAK 11, SEA 2 |
Recap |
| Wed 8/16 |
@OAK 4, SEA 0 |
Recap |
| Mon 9/25 |
@SEA 10, OAK 9 |
Recap |
| Tue 9/26 |
OAK 12, @SEA 3 |
Recap |
| >Wed 9/27 |
OAK 7, @SEA 6 |
Box Score |
| · Complete Schedule: Mariners | Athletics |
| Scoring Summary |
| OAK | SEA |
 | 1st | M Scutaro doubled to right, H Bocachica scored. | 1 | 0 |
 | 1st | N Swisher doubled to deep left, M Scutaro scored. | 2 | 0 |
 | 2nd | A Perez tripled to deep right center, D Jimenez scored. | 3 | 0 |
 | 3rd | A Beltre hit sacrifice fly to right, I Suzuki scored. | 3 | 1 |
 | 4th | R Sexson doubled to deep center, R Ibanez scored. | 3 | 2 |
 | 4th | J Lopez reached on infield single to pitcher, R Sexson scored, B Broussard to second. | 3 | 3 |
 | 4th | Y Betancourt grounded out to shortstop, B Broussard scored, J Lopez to third. | 3 | 4 |
 | 4th | I Suzuki singled to center, J Lopez scored. | 3 | 5 |
 | 7th | A Melhuse singled to right, B Kielty scored, A Melhuse to second advancing on throw. | 4 | 5 |
 | 8th | Y Betancourt doubled to deep left, J Lopez scored. | 4 | 6 |
 | 9th | D Johnson tripled to deep center, B Kielty and N Swisher scored. | 6 | 6 |
 | 10th | B Kielty doubled to deep center, H Bocachica scored. | 7 | 6 |
| · View complete Play-By-Play |
| Game Information |
| Stadium | Safeco Field, Seattle, WA |
| Attendance | 23,421 (48.9% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 3:20 |
| Weather | 70 degrees, clear |
| Wind | 2 mph |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Jeff Kellogg, First Base - Jerry Meals, Second Base - Mike Reilly, Third Base - Mike Muchlinski |
SEATTLE (AP) -- After resting two-thirds of his starting lineup,
plus his ace pitcher, Oakland Athletics manager Ken Macha decided
to follow suit.
Bench coach Bob Geren managed the AL West champions to a 7-6
victory over the
Seattle Mariners in a game that resembled spring
training Wednesday night.
Bobby Kielty hit an RBI double in the 10th inning and Dan
Johnson had a tying triple in the ninth to lead the A's to their
17th win in 19 tries against Seattle this season.
One day after the A's clinched their first division title since
2003, left-hander
Barry Zito had his scheduled start Wednesday
pushed back to Thursday night against the
Los Angeles Angels.
That sets him up to potentially start Game 1 of the playoffs on
normal rest, but Macha wouldn't divulge his pitchers for the first
two games.
After a wild celebration Tuesday night, only Kielty, Nick
Swisher and
Marco Scutaro returned to the starting lineup.
But neither Zito's scratch nor the lineup overhaul were the
biggest surprise. That honor went to the managerial debut for Geren
with Oakland.
"Mach told me last night, 'You're on tomorrow," he said. "I
really didn't think anything of it until today because I wasn't
sure he was serious. But at the beginning of the game, he said,
'You're on."
In preparation for next week's AL division series, against
Minnesota or Detroit, Macha plans to give designated hitter Frank
Thomas, third baseman
Eric Chavez and catcher
Jason Kendall at
least two days off between now and Sunday's regular-season finale
against the Los Angeles Angels.
Hiram Bocachica led off the 10th with a single against George
Sherrill (2-4) and went to second on Scutaro's sacrifice bunt.
Kielty followed with a double over
Ichiro Suzuki's head in center
to make it 7-6.
Jay Witasick (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the win and
Huston Street got three outs for his 37th save in 47 chances.
"That's honestly where my focus was tonight," Street said,
referring to the postseason. "Trying to get my stuff right."
With the A's trailing by two in the ninth, Kielty and Swisher
singled off
J.J. Putz before Johnson's two-run triple tied it at 6.
But after
Adam Melhuse struck out and
D'Angelo Jimenez was
intentionally walked, Mariners shortstop
Yuniesky Betancourt threw
out Johnson at the plate on
Jeremy Brown's grounder.
Antonio Perez
then struck out to end the inning.
It was Putz's seventh blown save in 41 opportunities.
Suzuki had two hits, an RBI and a run scored in his return to
Seattle's lineup after sitting out Tuesday night -- snapping a
streak of 396 consecutive games played. He was hit in the shoulder
by a pickoff attempt Monday night.
Mariners starter
Gil Meche allowed three runs and six hits in
six innings. The right-hander walked five and struck out seven.
"I couldn't quite get the ball where I wanted it and was
leaving the fastball over the plate, and they were going with it to
the opposite field," Meche said.
Meche hasn't lost in seven starts, with five no-decisions.
"Probably the last couple innings was as sharp as he was the
whole game," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said.
Jason Windsor made his first major league start in place of
Zito, allowing five runs and seven hits in five innings.
Oakland had a 1-0 lead after Meche had thrown seven pitches.
Scutaro's double scored Bocachica in the first, and Swisher doubled
home Scutaro.
Perez, the No. 9 hitter, tripled in the second to score Jimenez
and put Oakland up 3-0.
Adrian Beltre's sacrifice fly in the third scored Suzuki, who
reached on his eighth triple of the season. It was Suzuki's 49th
career triple, breaking Harold Reynolds' club mark.
Richie Sexson doubled home
Raul Ibanez in the fourth to make it
3-2. Sexson, who advanced to third on
Ben Broussard's single,
scored on
Jose Lopez's infield hit to tie it.
Betancourt's RBI groundout scored Broussard to give Seattle a
4-3 lead. Suzuki's single drove in Lopez for a 5-3 edge.
Melhuse's RBI single off
Joel Pineiro in the seventh scored
Kielty to make it 5-4.
Betancourt added an RBI double in the eighth.
Game notes
Seattle C Kenji Johjima also returned to the lineup after
missing Tuesday's game due to back spasms. A foul tip off Melhuse's
bat in the seventh hit Johjima's throwing hand, bringing trainer
Rick Griffin out for a brief look. ... Beltre's season-high 16-game
hitting streak was snapped. He was 0-for-4. ... The A's, who have
come from behind in eight of their last nine wins, improved to 8-4
in extra innings. Seattle is 8-8. ... Scutaro has a season-high
10-game hitting streak.