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Figgins lifts Mariners over A's

Apr 8, 2012 - 6:52 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Chone Figgins had three hits, two RBI and a run scored as the Seattle Mariners held on to take an 8-7 victory over the Oakland Athletics to conclude a two-game set at the Coliseum.

Ichiro Suzuki finished with two hits, including an RBI triple, while Michael Saunders smacked a solo home run for the Mariners, who took three out of four games against the A's to start the season.

The teams split two games in Japan last week.

Felix Hernandez (1-0) earned his first win of the year despite allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out seven through 6 1/3 innings. Brandon League worked a perfect ninth to tally his second save of the year.

"This team looks way better than last year. We're going to surprise people," said Hernandez.

Bartolo Colon (1-1) was touched for seven runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings to take the loss.

Yoenis Cespedes had a three-run homer, his third of the season already, while Jemile Weeks added a solo shot in a losing effort.

Figgins opened the game with a triple and then crossed the plate when Dustin Ackley followed with a groundout to second.

It stayed a 1-0 game until Seattle exploded with six runs in the fourth inning to jump out to a 7-0 advantage.

Suzuki started the onslaught with a run-scoring triple and then crossed the plate on Justin Smoak's base hit. Smoak later came home on a Miguel Olivo single to left before Munenori Kawasaki plated Kyle Seager with a base hit and Figgins capped the scoring with a two-run double.

Oakland managed to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Hernandez gave up just one run on a Seth Smith sacrifice fly as he retired the next two batters, Kurt Suzuki and Cliff Pennington, with infield pop ups.

The A's added another run in the fifth on Weeks' home run over the right-field wall, but Saunders answered with a homer in the sixth to make it an 8-2 game.

Kurt Suzuki's two-run double in the bottom of the sixth closed the gap to 8-4.

Hernandez was pulled in favor of Lucas Luetge, who was making his major league debut, with two on and one out in the seventh inning. After Luetge fanned Josh Reddick, Steve Delabar replaced him on the bump and gave up a three-run bomb to Cespedes to deep center field to make it a one-run game.

Oakland would not score again, though, as Smith ended the seventh with a grounder to first, Tom Wilhelmsen threw a perfect eighth and League worked a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win for Seattle.

"They put the pressure on us. They put the ball in play a lot and we just got to come up with big plays more consistently," said Weeks.

Game Notes

Hernandez, who turns 26 on Sunday, improved to 13-4 against Oakland in 23 career starts...Colon fell to 15-12 in 31 starts against Seattle...The Mariners were 10-9 against the A's last season...Saunders and Weeks both hit their first home run of the season.