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Mariners continue series with A's

Sep 27, 2011 - 2:49 PM (Sports Network) - An impressive rookie season by Blake Beavan comes to an end tonight when the Seattle Mariners hurler faces off against the Oakland Athletics in the middle portion of a three-game series.

Beavan has gone 5-5 with a 3.82 earned run average in 14 starts this year, 11 of those quality outings. The right-hander has also shown great control, walking only 13 batters in his 92 innings.

Beavan did not issue a free pass for a third straight outing on Thursday at Minnesota, getting a no-decision after giving up a pair of runs on six hits over seven innings.

The 22-year-old aims for a third straight winning decision tonight and is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two previous meetings with the Athletics.

Beavan will be following up an excellent outing from Jason Vargas in last night's opener after he threw eight solid innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters in a 4-2 win. Vargas reached double-digit victories and went over 200 innings pitched for the first time in his career.

"I've never had either of them happen. Two-hundred innings is what every starter shoots for (and) that kind of means that they're doing their job pretty good," Vargas said. "The wins are what they are, you really don't have control over that, but it is what it is."

Justin Smoak belted a three-run homer in the sixth inning off Brandon McCarthy, while Miguel Olivo had a solo shot in the fifth to help the Mariners end a four-game skid. Olivo's 19th homer of the season set a Seattle single- season record by a catcher.

Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham drove in the runs for the Athletics, who had won three of four coming in. McCarthy, who had six strikeouts, logged his fifth complete game of the year and third against Seattle.

"(He) made one bad pitch today," A's manager Bob Melvin said of McCarthy. "I even thought the pitch to Olivo, he went out there and snatched it, it was middle away, (a) decent pitch. But the Smoak pitch was probably the one bad pitch he made, didn't quite get it in there enough. He really had a consistent season for us. I know he feels good about that."

Taking the mound for Oakland will be Trevor Cahill, who has won just twice in his past 10 starts, a span that began with a setback in Seattle on Aug. 1. The right-hander was touched for seven runs on 12 hits over four innings on that day, but he did return to beat the Mariners at home on Sept. 4 with five innings of one-run ball.

Cahill is coming off a no-decision versus Texas on Thursday as he allowed three runs on 10 hits over 6 2/3 frames. The 23-year-old is 11-14 with a 4.31 ERA this year, including a 2-1 mark and 3.71 ERA in five games versus the Mariners.

The A's swept a three-game set at home when these clubs last met, but the Mariners still lead the season series, 10-7.