Seattle, WA – Raul Ibanez smashed a three-run home run and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics, 6-3, in the opener of a three-game series.
Kendrys Morales, Justin Smoak and Michael Morse contributed with an RBI apiece for the Mariners, who have won eight of their last 11 games.
Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma (4-1) had nine strikeouts and allowed two runs on nine hits over seven frames. Tom Wilhelmsen pitched a flawless ninth to notch his 10th save.
"(Iwakuma) was good again," said Mariners manager Eric Wedge. "What he's been doing, just executing pitches. He kept the ball down good, had a nice splitter working tonight. Did a good job with using his fastball, moving his fastball around, so just another solid effort by Iwakuma."
Jed Lowrie drove in two runs and Derek Norris had a home run for the Athletics, who saw starter Dan Straily (1-1) surrender six runs on six hits and four walks in five-plus innings.
"For any young pitcher, you're trying to find consistency and put together multiple starts in a row where you give your team a chance to win. It's the starter's job to keep them in the game. If you're going to give up some runs, keep it manageable and it just got out of hand a little bit."
Seattle scored twice in the first. Seager drew a walk with one out, and Morales and Morse hit back-to-back singles, with Morse scoring Seager. Smoak followed that with a double, bringing Morales home.
Seager singled to lead off the third and later stole second. Smoak drew a walk, setting up Ibanez's homer, and the Mariners' lead was 5-0.
Morales tacked on one more run for the Mariners in the fifth when he smacked a double deep into center field, scoring Seager, who drew a leadoff walk.
The Athletics, however, came back in the sixth. Lowrie knocked a two-out, two- RBI double, plating Eric Sogard and John Jaso. In the eighth, Norris hit a solo shot, but the Athletics' next three batters all struck out.
Wilhelmsen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to end the game.
Game Notes
Seager had two walks, a stolen base and three runs scored ... Lowrie hit his 12th double of the season ... The Mariners were 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position ... Right-handed hitters are 0-for-27 against Wilhelmsen this season.
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