Luis Castillo ran his streak of unbeaten starts to 12, Jarred Kelenic drove in two runs with a pair of singles and the visiting Seattle Mariners moved a game closer to the top of the American League West with a 7-2 triumph over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
J.P. Crawford and Teoscar Hernandez contributed RBI doubles to a four-run seventh inning, helping the Mariners (83-68) pull away for a win that lifted them within a half-game of the first-place Houston Astros in the AL West.
Castillo (14-7) worked seven innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He walked three and fanned eight, recording his 200th strikeout of the season in the process.
The second-year Mariner carried a three-hitter and a 6-0 lead into the last of the seventh before Oakland scored twice on a double by Aledmys Diaz, a triple by Shea Langeliers and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Soderstrom.
Kelenic matched those two runs with his RBI singles to open the scoring in the second and fourth innings. Eugenio Suarez, who had doubled, and Hernandez, who had walked, scored the runs.
In beating Oakland for the 11th time in 12 meetings this season, the Mariners broke the game open in the seventh against the Oakland bullpen, with all four runs scoring with two outs.
An RBI single by Cal Raleigh and wild pitch by Easton Lucas plated the runs not produced by the doubles by Crawford and Hernandez.
A’s starter Paul Blackburn (4-6) kept Oakland (46-105) in the game for five innings, limiting the Mariners to two runs and four hits. He walked one and struck out four.
Crawford capped a two-hit, two-run, two-RBI performance with a solo home run, his 16th homer of the season, leading off the ninth to complete the scoring.
Hernandez joined Kelenic and Crawford with two hits for the Mariners, who outhit the A’s 11-6.
Zack Gelof had a double and a single for Oakland, which dropped its fifth straight game to open a 10-game homestand.
–Field Level Media
