SEATTLE – The A’s completed a weekend sweep thanks to a couple of unexpected power sources.
Marcus Semien went deep in the eighth inning to tie it and Coco Crisp drilled his first homer since 2014 for the game winner in the 10th as Oakland rallied for a 2-1 victory Sunday over the Mariners at Safeco Field.
In doing so, the A’s overcame a dominant outing from longtime nemesis Felix Hernandez and a crucial error from Jed Lowrie that gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead in the sixth. It was quite the rebound weekend for the A’s, who opened the season by dropping three of four at home to the Chicago White Sox.
Crisp, in a reserve role for the first time in his Oakland career, received his second consecutive start in center field. After sparking the offense with his legs Saturday with two stolen bases, the switch hitter muscled up and drove a 3-1 pitch from Nick Vincent deep into the right field seats to snap a 1-1 tie in the 10th.
It marked Crisp’s first homer since Aug. 27, 2014, a career-long 70-game homerless streak.
Sean Doolittle allowed Kyle Seager’s leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th but closed it out with a strikeout of pinch hitter Dae-Ho Lee to notch his first save.
Semien came in hitting just .176 through the first six games, and his homer accounted for his first RBI of the season.
Starting pitching report
Chris Bassitt deserved better than a no-decision, surrendering just one unearned run over seven innings. He walked five but allowed just three hits and struck out four. The right-hander stranded the bases loaded in the fourth to dodge his biggest threat until the sixth. He had runners at the corners that inning with two outs when he got what should have been an inning-ending grounder off the bat of Ketel Marte. But the ball kicked off the glove of second baseman Jed Lowrie to score Nelson Cruz and break a scoreless tie.
Bassitt tied Sonny Gray for the longest start by an A’s pitcher through seven games.
Bullpen report
More standout relief work from the A’s, with Doolittle closing the door with two strikeouts in the bottom of the 10th.
At the plate
Semien came in hitting .176 and not having reached base in the first two games of the series. But he gave the A’s life when he connected on a 3-2 pitch from Joel Peralta, who relieved Hernandez to start the eighth. Semien sent his game-tying homer over the left field fence and now has five home runs in 10 career games at Safeco Field.
The A’s spent most of the afternoon flailing against King Felix, who allowed just three hits and struck out 10. That’s his highest strikeout total against Oakland since he notched 11 on April 11, 2014.
In the field
Lowrie committed his third error of the series but in the end it didn’t cost Oakland.
Attendance
A crowd of 30,834 was on hand, including the usual large contingent of gold-clad “King’s Court” fans whenever Hernandez pitches.
Up next
The A’s return to begin a six-game homestand, the first three against the Los Angeles Angels. Monday – Sonny Gray (1-0, 1.29) vs. Nick Tropeano (0-0, 0.00), 7:05 p.m. Tuesday – Kendall Graveman (0-1, 3.38) vs. Hector Santiago (0-0, 3.00), 7:05 p.m. Wednesday – Eric Surkamp (0-0, 4.15) vs. Matt Shoemaker (0-1, 18.00), 12:35 p.m. All the games will be broadcast on CSN California.
