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King Felix picks up where he left off, pitches M's over A's

Apr 2, 2011 - 7:07 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Felix Hernandez twirled a complete game and Seattle took advantage of five Oakland errors to take a 6-2 win in the season- opener for both clubs.

Hernandez (1-0) went the distance for the 14th time in his career as he was charged with just two runs, a two-run home run by Josh Willingham in the first, and five hits with five strikeouts.

"You can't ask for much more than that," said new Mariners manager Eric Wedge of the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner.

Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored and Miguel Olivo added two hits, an RBI and a run scored for the Mariners, who finished last season with an American League-high 101 losses. Chone Figgins added a solo homer.

Trevor Cahill gave up just one run on four hits over 4 2/3 innings with four walks and eight strikeouts for the Athletics, who went 81-81 last season to finish in second place in the American League West. Craig Breslow (0-1) was tagged with the loss as he gave up three runs -- two earned -- on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

After Willingham's homer in the first gave Oakland the early lead, Seattle got one back in the third when Jack Cust worked a bases loaded walk to score Suzuki to make it a 2-1 game.

Seattle wasted a bases-loaded chance in the fourth, but the sixth saw the Mariners go ahead by a run. With Brendan Ryan on second and one out, Suzuki singled to left to tie the game. After Suzuki, who stole two bases in the game, was caught stealing, Figgins made it a 3-2 game with a shot over the left field wall.

The Mariners padded their lead in the seventh. After Brad Ziegler took over on the hill with men on second and third and no outs, Olivo reached base on an error by Daric Barton to score a run and another run came home on a bad pickoff attempt by Ziegler. Ryan then hit into a fielder's choice to score Olivo for a 6-2 advantage.

"You're not going to see that from this club very often," A's manager Bob Geren said of the errors. "It wasn't characteristic of our defense."

Hernandez, meanwhile, shut Oakland down after the first inning as he faced the minimum the following six innings.

In the eighth, back-to-back singles for Landon Powell and Mark Ellis was followed by a force out at third on a grounder by Kevin Kouzmanoff. Pinch- hitter Ryan Sweeney then hit into a double play to end the frame.

Hernandez set down Oakland in order in the ninth and struck out David DeJesus to end the game.

Game Notes

Kouzmanoff committed two of the five errors for Oakland...Oakland won 13 of the 19 games against Seattle last season...Jason Vargas pitches for Seattle on Saturday and will be opposed by Brett Anderson.