OAKLAND, Calif. — Marco Gonzales had to work hard early on, and Seattle manager Scott Servais started thinking about his bullpen.
Gonzales had other ideas.
The veteran left-hander pitched seven effective innings and the Mariners hit two homers in a 9-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
“Really nice job to go that deep in the ballgame,” Servais said. “The pitch count was up early. After the first three innings I was hoping we’d get five, maybe six. So for him to get it in check there and have a couple quick innings late really helped us.”
Gonzales (7-6) struck out three and walked two to beat the A’s for the second time this season. He got Chad Pinder to hit into an inning-ending double play after Oakland loaded the bases in the first inning and retired 11 of 12 batters before Servais called for a pair of relievers to finish off the final two frames.
“We went right after them and had a good game plan going in and executed it as best as we could,” Gonzales said. “Just changing up sequences, getting ahead. I love that (Servais) trusted me to go back out in the seventh.”
Omar Narváez and Mallex Smith went deep for Seattle, which was swept by Oakland in a three-game series at the Coliseum in late May. Narváez finished with three hits and scored three times.
The Mariners also got a solid performance from J.P. Crawford, who doubled twice and drove in three runs after coming off the injured list earlier in the day. Kyle Seager added a sacrifice fly to tie Raúl Ibañez for sixth place in franchise history with 612 RBIs.
Matt Chapman tripled and made another dazzling defensive play for Oakland. Jurickson Profar added two hits.
“We had a lead briefly and then just didn’t play a good game,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “They just kept adding on and we couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had early on.”
Crawford’s bases-loaded double in the fourth put Seattle ahead for good and came one batter after shortstop Marcus Semien dropped a throw while trying to cover second base.
Crawford had been out with a left ankle sprain, but he hit the ball hard in all five plate appearances.
“He was on everything tonight,” Servais said. “The big thing with J.P. is when he keeps using the whole field. Great to have him back.”
Seager’s sacrifice fly made it 4-1.
Narváez singled in the fourth and fifth, and then hit his career-best 10th homer off Wei-Chung Wang in the seventh.
Smith went deep in the eighth.
A’s starter Chris Bassitt (3-3) allowed four runs, three earned, and five hits in 5 2/3 innings in his first appearance against Seattle since 2016.
Chapman, Oakland’s Gold Glove third baseman, made a sliding backhanded catch in left field to rob Daniel Vogelbach of a hit in the first inning.
ROSTER SHUFFLE
The Mariners optioned infielder Shed Long to Triple-A Tacoma. Right-hander Matt Festa was called up.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: RHP Félix Hernández pulled himself out of his first minor league rehab start because of fatigue. Hernandez exited after throwing 31 pitches for Triple-A Tacoma. The Mariners said Hernandez came out of the game when he wore down, not with pain. … RHP Brandon Brennan was placed on the IL with a strained right shoulder.
Athletics: OF Stephen Piscotty will be out until at least next week after undergoing surgery to remove a melanoma from his right ear. The 28-year-old Piscotty had surgery Thursday after the melanoma on the outer lobe of his ear was discovered during a routine spot check on May 28.
UP NEXT
Oakland right-hander Frankie Montas (8-2, 2.84 ERA) starts against Seattle and is 4-0 over his last five starts. The Mariners plan to go with an opener, although Servais has not determined who it will be. Lefty Wade LeBlanc is expected to take over after the opener.
