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Milone, A's shut out Mariners

Jun 26, 2012 - 5:46 AM Seattle, WA (Sports Network) - Tommy Milone pitched seven scoreless innings and Seth Smith supplied the offense with a home run as the Oakland Athletics edged the Seattle Mariners, 1-0, in the first test a three-game series at Safeco Field.

Milone (8-5) scattered seven singles and had five strikeouts to become the first rookie in Athletics history to have eight wins before the All-Star break.

Ryan Cook tossed a scoreless ninth to record his fifth save of the year for Oakland, which has won 10 of its last 13 games.

Erasmo Ramirez (0-2) took the loss despite allowing one run on three hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts in his third career start.

"You saw a complete performance by a young starting pitcher today," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said of Ramirez's outing. "He has something now that he can really work off of, now it's time to go back to work and get prepared for his next start."

Jesus Montero collected a pair of hits for the Mariners, who were shut out for the second consecutive game.

Seattle only placed a runner on third base once in the game, when Franklin Gutierrez singled with one out in the bottom of the first inning and advanced to third on Montero's two-out base hit to center field.

But Milone induced an inning-ending grounder to first by Justin Smoak and Smith hammered a first-pitch fastball over the center-field wall with one out in the second to record the game's only run.

Oakland only had two more hits for the remainder of the contest -- a pair of singles by Brandon Moss and Brandon Inge in the fifth and eighth innings, respectively -- but Milone made that run stand.

The Mariners threatened the 25-year-old lefty just one more time, when Smoak reached first on a fielder's choice in the fourth and moved to second on Michael Saunders' one-out single.

However, Miguel Olivo followed with an inning-ending double play and Seattle would not advance a runner past first for the rest of the game.

"Both guys pitched great games and one swing of the bat decided it, credit to both pitchers," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said.

Game Notes

Milone improved to 1-1 in two career starts against Seattle...The Mariners still lead the season series between the teams, 5-3...Seattle has not scored a run in its last 23 innings.