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Lopez homers twice to power Mariners past Athletics

Sep 27, 2008 - 6:59 AM SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Jose Lopez loves a meeting with the Oakland Athletics.

Lopez stroked two home runs on Friday to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 10-8 victory over the Athletics.

The Mariners' first baseman entered the series opener hitting .338 (22-for-65) with 11 RBI against Oakland this season. He continued that domination, driving in four runs while helping Seattle snap a three-game losing streak against its American League West rivals.

"I'm not an expert by any means on hitting, but I know it takes a good hitter to hit a high fastball, and he can hit a high fastball," Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said of Lopez. "With young players in their development, power is the last thing to come, and I think it is coming."

The 24-year-old Lopez, who usually is used at second base but has played a dozen games at first this year, had 11 homers and 62 RBI last season. This year, he has hit 17 blasts and driven in 89 runs, tops among all AL second basemen.

"For me, it's been a surprise, too," Lopez said of his power surge this season. "I knew I could hit with men on base, but I don't try to hit homers. But I'm surprised that I have 17 right now, and I have two more games left."

The victory was the second in 14 games for Seattle. The Athletics dropped their third consecutive game and saw their road record fall to 32-46, their worst since 1997.

After the Athletics took a 2-0 lead in the second on Jack Cust's solo home run - his 33rd - and an RBI single by rookie Jeff Baisley, Lopez capped a five-run outburst in the third with a three-run blast off Sean Gallagher (2-3).

Travis Buck's sixth homer - a three-run shot - tied the game in the fourth, and rookie Carlos Gonzalez put the A's on top, 6-5, with an RBI single in the fifth.

The Mariners responded in the bottom of the frame with their second five-run rally. Lopez launched a solo home run - his 17th - with one out to start the scoring.

Jeremy Reed followed with a walk and scored when Miguel Cairo doubled to right-center field with two outs. That chased Gallagher, who was pounded for eight runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Rookie Luis Valbuena plated Cairo with an infield single before Rob Johnson closed the inning with his first homer - a two-run blast.

A's manager Bob Geren blamed his team's ragged play in the field, rather than Gallagher's overall effort, for the loss.

"He had a good night and had good velocity," Geren said. "He just got some balls up in the zone and had some bounces not go his way. He gave up the two homers to Lopez, and the rest just wasn't a good game all the way around behind him."

Brandon Morrow (3-4) notched the win for the Mariners but was unimpressive, allowing six runs and six hits in five innings. The 24-year-old righthander walked five and struck out eight.

"I felt all right," Morrow said. "Just falling behind and walking guys hurt me. The pitches to Cust and Buck were behind-in-the-count fastballs, and they jumped on them."

Mark Lowe surrendered one run in three innings of relief before being replaced in the ninth by Roy Corcoran, who gave up an RBI groundout by Kurt Suzuki en route to his third save.