• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Athletics search for back-to-back wins for first time in over a month

Aug 24, 2008 - 8:20 AM Oakland (59-70) at Seattle (47-82) 4:10 pm EDT

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Consecutive wins are the foundation winning streaks are built upon - a detail neither the Oakland Athletics nor the Seattle Mariners have concerned themselves with lately.

The Athletics eye back-to-back victories and a series win for the first time since mid-July on Sunday when they complete their four-game set against the Mariners.

Oakland has claimed two of the first three games, including Saturday's 5-1 victory over Seattle when it received a seven-strikeout performance over seven frames from Dana Eveland.

However, putting together any kind of successful stretch has proven difficult for the A's, who have not won two straight since July 10-11 or registered a series victory since taking three of four at home against the Mariners from July 7-10.

The A's will look to turn that around when Dan Meyer (0-1, 5.52 ERA) makes his second start . The lefthander last appeared in relief last Sunday, surrendering five runs and three hits over three innings during the A's 13-1 defeat against the White Sox.

While Seattle hasn't struggled to string together wins quite as much as the A's, it hasn't been much better. The Mariners haven't recorded back-to-back victories since August 3-5 or won a series since taking two of three at home vs. Minnesota with the final two wins of their last winning streak.

Seattle will try to salvage a series split when it sends Felix Hernandez (7-8, 3.23) to the mound in hopes of ending his six-game slide. The righthander is coming off his worst outing since the All-Star break , surrendering five runs and 11 hits over five innings in a 5-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.