Final
Athletics-Mariners Preview
Sep 28, 2009 - 4:19 PM By PAUL DIGIACOMO STATS Senior EditorOakland (75-81) at Seattle (80-76), 10:10 p.m. EDT
After watching fellow AL Cy Young Award hopefuls Zack Greinke and CC Sabathia have dominating performances over the weekend, Felix Hernandez will take his turn trying to impress the voters when the Seattle Mariners host the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Kansas City's Greinke allowed one run and struck out eight over seven innings Sunday to beat Minnesota 4-1 and improve to 16-8 with a major league-best 2.06 ERA. He's second in the AL behind Detroit right-hander Justin Verlander with 237 strikeouts.
Sabathia was even better than Greinke on Saturday, allowing one hit and striking out eight in seven innings to lead New York over Boston 3-0. The left-hander, who won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award while with Cleveland, tied his career high with 19 wins and lowered his ERA to 3.21.
Those outings came just a few days after Hernandez struck out a season-best 11 over eight innings to defeat Toronto 5-4 on Thursday and improve to 17-5 with a 2.49 ERA. The right-hander has 207 strikeouts, the first time in his career he's surpassed 200.
Hernandez is 5-0 with a 1.57 ERA in his last six starts, Greinke is 5-0 with a 0.72 ERA in his last seven and Sabathia has gone 9-0 with a 2.04 ERA in 11 outings since Aug. 2.
"I'd vote for Felix, without a doubt," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "I don't know if anybody has impacted the club this year greater than he has. You've got to remember, too, he's 23 years old."
Hernandez, though, said he thinks Greinke should win the Cy Young, while Sabathia has said he believes Hernandez should take the honor as the AL's top pitcher.
Hernandez is one of the main reasons why Seattle (80-76) is closing in on a winning season after finishing an AL-worst 61-101 last year. The Mariners, however, have lost three straight and four of five.
"I know it's on everybody's mind," Wakamatsu told the Mariners' official Web site. "The improvement we made this season would be all for naught if we don't at least get to .500 and for me, at least one game over. We want to go into the offseason having established a winning environment.
"It has been a decent year for us. We are heading in the right direction."
Seattle will open its final homestand with a three-game series against Oakland, which is in last place in the AL West. The Mariners are 11-5 in the season series, going 5-1 at Safeco Field.
Hernandez has faced the A's (75-81) once this season and didn't receive a decision after allowing five runs and seven hits over five innings of an 8-5 win at Oakland on April 11. He's 7-4 with a 2.93 ERA in 13 starts against the A's, who have been playing well down the stretch.
Oakland is 17-8 in September and coming off a weekend road series in which it took two of three from first-place Los Angeles. It's the first time since June 2008 the A's have had a winning record in a month.
"(The Angels) are a really good team over there, and they've been on top of the division for a while," designated hitter Jack Cust said. "But anytime you've got pitching like we have, with young guys who should be around here for a while ... we can make a push."
One of those youngsters is Trevor Cahill, Tuesday's scheduled starter.
The 21-year-old Cahill (10-12, 4.45) improved to 4-0 with a 2.43 ERA in his last seven starts by allowing one run over 5 2-3 innings to defeat Texas 9-1 last Tuesday.
The rookie right-hander has made three starts this year against the Mariners and is 0-2 despite a 1.89 ERA.
- Mariners 6, Athletics 4 - FINAL
OAKLAND ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
A Kennedy 3b 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 .291
R Davis cf 3 1 0 0 2 0 2 .306
R Sweeney rf 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .293
T Buck rf 2 1 1 0 0 1 2 .230
K Suzuki c 4 0 2 2 0 0 0 .273
J Cust dh 3 1 0 0 2 0 2 .241
D Ba
Sep 30 12:57 AM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY KURT SUZUKI SCORED RAJAI DAVIS AND ADAM KENNEDY
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, K SUZUKI ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 4
SEATTLE 6 TOP,9TH
DUE UP FOR OAKLAND: J CUST (.242, 0-FOR-2, 2 BB)
Athletics 4, Mariners 6 Top 9, 0 OutsSep 30 12:51 AM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY DARIC BARTON SCORED TRAVIS BUCK
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, J CUST ON FIRST, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 2
SEATTLE 6 TOP,8TH
DUE UP FOR OAKLAND: M ELLIS (.273, 1-FOR-3, RBI)
Athletics 2, Mariners 6 Top 8, 0 OutsSep 30 12:26 AM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY BILL HALL SCORED MIKE CARP
SITUATION: 5 RUNS IN, B HALL ON SECOND, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 1
SEATTLE 6 BOTTOM,5TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: R JOHNSON (.217, 0-FOR-2)
Athletics 1, Mariners 6 Bot 5, 0 OutsSep 29 11:44 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY KEN GRIFFEY JR. (17) TO RIGHT WITH 1
OUT IN THE 5TH OFF TREVOR CAHILL SCORED JOSE LOPEZ AND
ICHIRO SUZUKI.
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 1, SEATTLE 5
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: A BELTRE (.260, 1-FOR-2)
Athletics 1, Mariners 5 Bot 5, 0 OutsSep 29 11:41 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ SCORED JOSH WILSON
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, I SUZUKI ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 1
SEATTLE 2 BOTTOM,5TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: J LOPEZ (.271, 0-FOR-2)
Athletics 1, Mariners 2 Bot 5, 0 OutsSep 29 11:38 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARK ELLIS SCORED JACK CUST
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, M ELLIS ON FIRST, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 1
SEATTLE 1 TOP,4TH
DUE UP FOR OAKLAND: E PATTERSON (.276, 1-FOR-1)
Athletics 1, Mariners 1 Top 4, 0 OutsSep 29 11:12 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
GROUND OUT BY BILL HALL SCORED KEN GRIFFEY JR.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, A BELTRE ON THIRD, 2 OUTS
CURRENT SCORE: OAKLAND 0
SEATTLE 1 BOTTOM,2ND
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: R JOHNSON (.218, 2 HR, 27 RBI)
Athletics 0, Mariners 1 Bot 2, 0 OutsSep 29 10:34 PM
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