A's 6, Mariners 2
OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland A's finally discovered their offense in a 6-2 victory Wednesday night over the Seattle Mariners at Oakland Coliseum.
Three newcomers -- Jed Lowrie, Chris Young and Nate Freiman -- drove in five of the A's six runs as Oakland notched its first victory of 2013 after two losses to open the season.
The six runs were plenty for left-hander Tommy Milone (1-0), who gave up two home runs in the first but blanked the Mariners over the next six innings to get the victory. The second-year pitcher gave up just four hits over seven innings, striking out four and walking one.
But the A's were searching for offense after being held to one run combined over their first two games. They got it thanks to some new additions.
Lowrie, opening the season as the starting shortstop, hit a two-run double off Joe Saunders (0-1) in the fourth to break a 2-2 tie. He and Young then connected for back-to-back homers in the seventh off Kameron Loe to pad the A's lead to 6-2.
Freiman, making his major league debut after getting claimed off waivers from Houston late in spring training, delivered a two-out RBI single up the middle in his first career at-bat in the second inning for the A's first runs.
Freiman, whose parents and brother were among the 15,162 in attendance, had two hits and lined out hard to center in another at-bat. He added a sliding catch of a foul pop-up near the first-base dugout.
The Mariners simply couldn't get to Milone after the first inning, mustering just four base runners the rest of the way.
Franklin Gutierrez got things started early for Seattle, crushing Milone's fourth pitch of the game for a leadoff homer. Three batters later, Michael Morse hit another solo homer to dead center, Morse's third homer against Oakland in two days.
Yoenis Cespedes' sacrifice fly tied it 2-2 in the bottom of the third.
Saunders lasted just four innings, surrendering four runs on seven hits and walking four.
NOTES: Seattle's Jesus Montero was in the lineup at catcher for the third straight day, the first time in his career he's drawn three consecutive starts behind the plate in three days. Manager Eric Wedge said Kelly Shoppach would catch Thursday's matinee, but he wants to gauge how Montero deals with the heavy defensive workload so he knows how to handle Montero's innings over the season. ... Catcher Derek Norris, Freiman and center fielder Chris Young all drew their first starts for the A's, but manager Bob Melvin said Wednesday's lineup righty-dominated lineup would not be etched in stone against lefty pitchers. ... A's shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima (strained left hamstring) played catch before the game, and infielder Adam Rosales (strained left side muscle) is getting close to hitting off a tee, but there's no indication when either will be ready to come off the disabled list.
