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Mariners take down Athletics

Aug 3, 2011 - 11:54 PM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Charlie Furbush made quite an impression on his new team, matching a career-high five innings to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 7-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Making his first start with the Mariners since being acquired from the Tigers on July 30, Furbush (2-3) allowed one run on two hits and carried a perfect game through 4 1/3 frames.

"He was efficient," said Mariners manager Eric Wedge. "He used all of his pitches. He trusted his fastball and trusted his stuff in general."

Mike Carp, Casper Wells and Josh Bard each had a pair of RBI, while Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-5 and scored twice for the Mariners, who completed a three- game sweep of the A's.

Gio Gonzalez (9-9) allowed six runs on 10 hits and four walks while striking out nine over 6 1/3 innings to suffer the loss.

"As a team, we better be upset about the way we played here," said Athletics manager Bob Melvin. "Coming off a good stretch where we played very well, to come in here and get beat three games, I'm hoping and I'm guessing everybody's pretty upset about the way we played these three games."

Josh Willingham belted a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to make things interesting, but Brandon League recorded the final two outs of the frame to earn his 26th save of the season.

The Mariners broke through in the bottom of the fourth, as Carp and Wells reached with a single and a walk, respectively, advanced on Franklin Gutierrez's sac bunt and scored on Bard's single.

Furbush retired his 13th consecutive batter on a Willingham pop out to begin the fifth, but Conor Jackson followed with a high fly to left. The ball bounced off the top of the wall, just out of the reach of the jumping Greg Halman, as Jackson cruised into second with a double.

Scott Sizemore followed with a double into the corner in left, making it a 2-1 game.

Suzuki and Brendan Ryan began the home half with back-to-back singles. Consecutive groundouts by Dustin Ackley and Carp plated Suzuki. Ackley scored later in the frame on a Wells single, establishing a 4-1 Mariners lead.

Josh Lueke spelled Furbush and tossed a scoreless sixth but ran into trouble an inning later.

A leadoff walk by Hideki Matsui and a one-out single by Jackson placed runners on first and second and chased Lueke in favor Jamey Wright, who walked Sizemore to load the bases. He settled, though, inducing Adam Rosales into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.

The Mariners placed runners on the corners with one down in the seventh to chase Gonzalez. Wells greeted reliever Trystan Magnuson with an RBI single. Another run crossed the plate on Sizemore's fielding error.

Carp singled home Suzuki in the eighth to make it a 7-1 game but Jeff Gray allowed consecutive singles to Coco Crisp and Matsui to begin the ninth. Willingham then connected on a blast to left-center, sealing the final margin.

"[Furbush] will remain in the rotation," said Wedge when asked about the status of his newly-acquired pitcher.

Game Notes

Furbush was acquired in a six-player trade with the Tigers for Doug Fister and David Pauley...Suzuki has batted .455 (10-for-22) as a designated hitter this season...The Mariners earned their first sweep since winning three straight over the Padres from May 20-22.