A’s get even with Mariners
SEATTLE — Two days after being subjected to a champagne celebration by the Seattle Mariners, the A’s got even.
With a 10-3 victory Sunday, they dealt a serious blow to the Mariners’ chances of hosting the AL wild-card series. James Kaprielian carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and was backed by four home runs, including a pair from Shea Langeliers. Cristian Pache and Nick Allen accounted for the other two.
The Mariners, who clinched their first postseason berth since 2001 on Friday night, couldn’t touch Kaprelian, although that’s hardly new. In eight career starts against Seattle, the A’s right hander has held the Mariners to a .178 batting average. The no-hit bid ended in the sixth inning with a two-out single by Ty France.
“I think overall the club played really well today and it was a good finish for (Kaprielian) in terms of his bounce back from some struggles in the middle of the season to ending this month and really performing well,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said.
Meanwhile, the A’s (57-102) were roughing up Seattle starter Robbie Ray, casting doubt on his place in the Mariners’ three-man postseason rotation.
Langeliers, acquired in the trade that sent Matt Olson to Atlanta, delivered the first blow, leading off the fourth inning with a 426-foot blast to left. Two batters later, Pache, another piece from the Olson trade, hit his third of the season for a 3-0 lead.
Allen got Ray in the sixth, a two-run shot that put the A’s ahead 6-0. It was the fourth of the season for the light hitting (.208) shortstop.
Langeliers entered this series with two home runs for the season and ended it with five. His second of the day, a three-run shot in the ninth, came against Seattle reliever Penn Murfee.
The Mariners avoided a 10-0 shutout when Winker hit a three-run homer in the ninth against A’s reliever Sam Selman.
Seattle’s loss combined with Toronto’s victory over Boston pushed the Blue Jays’ lead to 2 ½ games in the race for the top wild-card spot and home-field advantage for the three-game series.
Seattle does hold the tiebreaker over the Blue Jays, but the Mariners’ only hope now of catching Toronto relies on a significant amount of help from Baltimore. The Orioles must take two of three games from Toronto, and Seattle must sweep a four-game series from Detroit.
Seattle still has a 1 ½ game lead over Tampa Bay.
“We’re at the point where you almost got to win out, and we certainly do now,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.