Colon, three homers help Athletics gain split with Seattle

Yoenis Cespedes belted his first career homer to put Oakland on top and Bartolo Colon threw eight strong innings, as the Athletics gained a split of the two-game season-opening series against Seattle with a 4-1 victory at the Tokyo Dome.

Josh Reddick and Jonny Gomes also homered for Oakland, which bounced back from a 3-1 loss in 11 innings in Wednesday's opener.

Colon (1-0) limited Seattle to three hits, including Justin Smoak's solo homer, and struck out six while walking only one in his Oakland debut.

Jason Vargas started for the Mariners and did not factor into the decision, as he was lifted after 6 1/3 innings. The lefty was charged with a run on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Vargas exited the contest with one on and one out in the seventh, leading 1-0, and Shawn Kelley (0-1) retired Kurt Suzuki on a ground ball before Cespedes drove a pitch over the wall in left-center field to put the Athletics ahead.