Athletics 2 - 4 Mariners
Final
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A's visit Mariners in opener between playoff hopefuls

Sep 12, 2014 - 2:34 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Oakland Athletics look to keep their postseason hopes alive when they visit the Emerald City Friday to take on the Seattle Mariners in the opener of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

The Athletics are first in the wild card standings and recently lost three of four games to the Chicago White Sox. They were going for a split of the set at U.S. Cellular Field, but dropped a 1-0 decision on Thursday.

Marcus Semien led off the sixth inning with a solo home run and A's starting pitcher Scott Kazmir was dealt the loss. Kazmir threw eight strong innings and struck out seven batters with one walk.

"It's just a tough stretch," said Kazmir. "It's one of those ones where we really haven't had anything go our way. We're fighting for every run, every win. ... We're not pressing. We just stay positive."

Jed Lowrie had two of Oakland's three hits.

Oakland has lost 11 of its last 14 games and will hand the ball to Jason Hammel Friday in the Pacific Northwest. Hammel is 2-5 with a 4.70 earned run average in 10 starts with the A's and did not factor in the outcome of a 4-3 loss to Houston on Sunday, as he allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings.

Hammel has faced the Mariners six times (5 starts) in his career and is 3-1 with a 3.09 ERA.

The Mariners will try to keep their postseason aspirations intact and have lost three of four games following a five-game winning streak.

In Wednesday's 5-2 loss to the Houston Astros in the finale of a three-game series, Hisashi Iwakuma struggled through 4 1/3 innings and gave up four runs and six hits in the losing effort.

"Iwakuma had a bad outing, our hitters had a bad outing, our defense had a bad outing," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "It was a tough disappointing loss."

Mike Zunino drove in both runs and Robinson Cano added a pair of hits for the Mariners.

Seattle is just a half-game off the second wild card spot and will send James Paxton to the hill Friday. Paxton is 5-2 with a 1.87 earned run average and suffered a hard-luck loss at Texas on Sunday, charged with just a run and five hits in six innings.

Paxton had won two straight and three of four appearances before the loss to the Rangers and won his only career start against the Athletics last Tuesday in a 6-5 road win. Paxton gave up two runs in 7 2/3 innings.

The Mariners are 9-7 against the A's this season and have won seven of the last 10 meetings between the AL West foes.






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