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Suzuki walks off hard fought battle
By Pearl Allison Lo May 18, 2010 |
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Oakland and the Seattle Mariners tied four times fighting for the two-game series finale win, with the A's Kurt Suzuki providing the 6-5 winning run in the bottom of the tenth with two outs. A wild pitch with Ryan Sweeney at bat put Cliff Pennington on third base. Seattle decided to pitch to Suzuki and on his third pitch, he hit the ball up the middle to bring in Sweeney. Both teams had double-digit hits, with Oakland equaling their season-high of fifteen for the second straight game. With three consecutive hits, the A's scored first this time . In the bottom of the first, Daric Barton doubled, Sweeney singled and Suzuki brought Barton home with a single as well to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. The A's Ben Sheets got seven straight batters out to start the game before Ryan Johnson homered in his return to the lineup to tie the game at one. Oakland moved back ahead in the bottom of the third. With two outs, Jack Cust singled in Sweeney and Suzuki to make it 3-1. However, the Mariners retied the game in the top of the sixth. Chone Figgins led off with a double and Franklin Gutierrez walked. Two outs later, Casey Kotchman singled them both in to make it 3-3. Seattle moved ahead for the first time with another two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh. Figgins brought in Josh Wilson, who led off with a single and stole second. In the bottom of the inning, the A's led off with three consecutive baserunners to produce the game's third tie. Sweeney led off with a single, Suzuki was hit by a ball from Kanekoa Texeira and Kevin Kouzmanoff singled in Sweeney. One out later, Eric Chavez broke the tie with a sacrifice fly to bring Suzuki home and make it 5-4. This was the longest inning with three pitching changes and eight different batters at the plate. Both the Mariners' Ryan Langerhans and Mike Sweeney, who didn't start the game, came in during the top of the eighth to keep the team in the game. Ken Griffey Jr. produced a one-out single, bringing in Langerhans to run for him. Kotchman then singled, bringing in Sweeney to pinch-hit for Wilson. This resulted in Sweeney scoring Langerhans with a sac fly to make it 5-5. Seattle starter Felix Hernandez kept his earned runs total low like in his last outing, with three, but gave up a a season-high eleven hits. Sheets in contrast, gave up more earned runs than in his last two outings combined, with four, and walked a season-high four batters. Craig Breslow received the win and Brandon League the loss. Game notes: Suzuki's two runs scored were a season-high and Sweeney's four hits duplicated a season-high. Cust scored his first two RBIs since returning from Triple-A and now has five hits in his past three games. Oakland next plays the Detroit Tigers Wednesday at 7:05pm. |
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