• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Kouzmanoff, A's thump Mariners

Apr 24, 2011 - 6:00 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in four runs with two hits, including a three-run home run, as the Oakland Athletics thumped the Seattle Mariners 9-1 in the third installment of a four-game series.

Cliff Pennington hit a two-run homer and Coco Crisp knocked in a pair of runs for the Athletics, who snapped a three-game losing streak and ended a 20-inning scoreless streak.

Oakland's Trevor Cahill (3-0) was solid in a six-inning start, giving up just one run on seven hits.

"I didn't feel that great out there," said Cahill. "For them to take some pressure off, score that many runs, definitely helped out a lot. Hopefully, we can get into a groove and score a lot more tomorrow and keep it going."

Jack Wilson drove in the lone run for the Mariners, who had shut out the A's in the first two games of the series.

Jason Vargas (0-2) was touched for six runs on six hits in five innings.

"We made some mistakes in every area of the game today," said Seattle manager Eric Wedge. "Against a guy like Cahill, much less anybody at this level, you just can't do that. We got to do a better job of controlling damage."

A three-run fourth inning put the A's ahead for good.

Kurt Suzuki had a one-out walk and stole second after Mark Ellis popped out for the second out in the decisive inning. Kouzmanoff brought Suzuki home just before Pennington blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence to go up 4-1.

The A's put up a five-run sixth to really take command of the game. Kouzmanoff belted a a three-run homer with one out while Crisp notched an RBI double later in the inning to go up 8-1. Crisp then crossed home on a Conor Jackson single to cap off the rally.

Seattle got on board first when Wilson singled in Chris Gimenez in the bottom of the second. But Oakland tied it up in the third with Crisp's RBI double.

Game Notes

Oakland was 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position while Seattle went 1- for-7...Crisp finished 3-for-5...Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-4 in the loss.