Dominic Canzone drove in a season-best four runs, George Kirby threw seven effective innings and the Seattle Mariners kept pace in the American League West by completing a three-game sweep of the host Oakland Athletics, 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon.
Seattle’s 12th win in 13 games over the A’s in the season series allowed the Mariners (84-68) to remain tied with the Texas Rangers for second place in the AL West, a half-game behind the Houston Astros. All three won Wednesday.
Playing in his 53rd major league game, Canzone teed off on debuting A’s rookie Joey Estes for a two-run homer in the second inning. A fielding error by Oakland third baseman Jordan Diaz had put Ty France aboard before Canzone’s sixth homer of the season.
Having seen the A’s (46-106) get within 2-1 on Zack Gelof’s 13th homer, the Mariners created some breathing room with a four-run fifth that ended Estes’ day.
Julio Rodriguez bombed his 31st homer and Cal Raleigh his 29th leading off the fifth. Two outs later, after Estes had been lifted following a ground-rule double by Eugenio Suarez and a hit batsman, Canzone greeted reliever Adrian Martinez with a two-run double, opening a 6-1 lead.
The four RBIs were one more than Canzone’s previous best, set in July at Atlanta.
Seeking to avoid a seventh straight loss, the A’s got within 6-3 on a two-run homer by Brent Rooker, his 27th, in the sixth.
But Kirby (11-10) pitched a scoreless seventh and Andres Munoz a scoreless eighth, setting the stage for Justin Topa to record his third save with a hitless ninth.
Kirby was charged with three runs on eight hits in his seven innings. He struck out three and did not issue a walk.
Promoted from Triple-A to make the start, Estes went 4 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) and six hits. He walked one and struck out two.
Raleigh joined Canzone with two hits, while France scored twice for the Mariners, who now head for a three-game series at Texas.
Gelof and Seth Brown had two hits apiece for the A’s, whose eight hits equaled the Mariners’ total.
–Field Level Media
