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Johjima, Lopez power Mariners over Athletics

Aug 25, 2008 - 1:06 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Kenji Johjima snapped a tie with a solo homer in the fifth inning and Jose Lopez added a three-run blast a frame later as the Seattle Mariners salvaged a split of their four-game series with the Oakland Athletics with an 8-4 triumph.

Miguel Cairo collected two hits, two RBI and two runs scored for the Mariners, who had lost eight of their previous nine games and 12 of 14.

Felix Hernandez (8-8) posted his first win since July 18, allowing three runs and four hits in six innings. The righthander, who had gone 0-2 in his previous six starts, walked two and struck out seven in improving to 7-3 lifetime against Oakland.

The 22-year-old Hernandez admitted to being under the weather afterward.

"I was dizzy. I was tired," he said. "I wanted to make (the start). I don't know how, but I wanted to make it. The fastball was there and I had good command today, so it was fine."

Two relievers bridged the gap to J.J. Putz, who recorded the final out for his ninth save.

Making his second start of the season, Dan Meyer (0-2) surrendered four runs and three hits in five frames for the Athletics, who have dropped six of nine.

Jack Hannahan belted a pair of solo homers and Rob Bowen added one for Oakland.

Looking to win their first series since taking three of four from the Mariners at home from July 7-10, the Athletics grabbed a 2-0 lead as Hannahan launched shots in the first and third innings for his first career multi-homer game.

"It was a nice job," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "Jack has really been working a lot on his swing, and against a guy that throws that hard, that shows that his swing is where he wants it to be."

After depositing a 1-0 offering from Hernandez into the right field seats in the opening frame, Hannahan hit a shot off the foul pole in right field to double Oakland's advantage. With the second homer, Hannahan improved to 5-for-8 lifetime against Hernandez but was unable to explain the success.

"He's got unbelievable stuff," Hannahan said. "It's just one of those things. I got a couple of pitches to hit and took advantage of them."

But Seattle moved ahead in the bottom of the third, when Cairo hit a two-run triple and scored on Ichiro Suzuki's single. Prior to Cairo's three-base hit, Meyer had walked the first two batters in the inning.

"That's just a mental mistake that cannot happen," Meyer said. "Jack put us up 2-0, and the biggest thing is to go out and get the first out of the inning. I walk Johjima and I walk (Bryan) LaHair and give up one base hit, and suddenly, it's a totally different ballgame."

Mariners manager Jim Riggleman was pleased with the performance of Cairo, whose worth is more as a defensive replacement at numerous positions.

"Having a guy like that who can play everywhere on the field give you a quality at-bat, his value to the ballclub is a lot more than what the batting average says," Riggleman said. "He got a couple of huge hits for us today and came up big defensively."

Getting a rare start behind the plate, Bowen forged a 3-3 tie in the fifth with a shot over the right field wall, his first homer since August 8, 2007. However, Johjima put the Mariners in front for good in the bottom half with his fifth blast of the season, a leadoff shot to left, and Lopez swatted his 11th off Kirk Saarloos a frame later for a four-run bulge.

The A's got back a run in the seventh on Eric Patterson's RBI groundout, but the Mariners answered in the bottom of the inning as Raul Ibanez delivered a run-scoring single.