By Chris Talbott
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Ramon Laureano broke out of a slump with a three-run homer, Chris Bassitt became the first Oakland starter to earn a victory this season and the Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday.
Laureano’s two-out home run snapped a string of 23 1/3 innings by Mariners starters without allowing an earned run and helped the A’s win their second game in a row after a three-game losing streak.
Bassitt (1-0) struck out seven and allowed three hits with no walks in 5 2/3 innings against the Mariners. A’s starters had been 0-4 with a 4.75 ERA in the team’s first eight games.
Laureano’s home run came after Marcus Semien beat the throw from third baseman Dylan Moore for an infield single that would have been the third out of the fifth inning. The hit chased starter Kendall Graveman (0-2), who was pitching against his former team for the first time.
Laureano put reliever Anthony Misiewicz’s fourth pitch just over the wall in the left-center field gap. His second homer of the season snapped a 1-for-12 streak. The hit also snapped a strong run for Mariners starters, who had allowed just two unearned runs in a five-game span until Graveman left two on for Laureano.
Bassitt ended the third-longest winless streak by starters to begin the season in team history by largely frustrating the Mariners after a rocky first inning. The Mariners took a 1-0 lead on Daniel Vogelbach’s hard-fought RBI single to right field after Moore reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second base.
The A’s got out of the inning on Bassitt’s strikeout of Evan White, the first of 10 consecutive batters he retired before giving up a single to Shed Long Jr. to start the fifth. He was pulled with two outs in the fifth after reaching 83 pitches.
Mariners rookie Kyle Lewis hit his third home run of the season to make it 3-2 in the eighth, but Lance Hendriks struck out three in the ninth to pick up his third save and second of the series.
Lewis’ streak
Lewis struggled early, but extended his hot start to the season late in Sunday’s game and has now hit safely in all 10 games. Lewis’ 420-foot solo home run to the left-center field gap off reliever Yusmeiro Petit in the eighth inning pulled the Mariners to within a run and gave the outfielder his 17th hit of the season. That kept him on pace with Endy Chavez, who had 17 hits through 10 games in 2009, the previous best start to the season by a Mariners player.
Roster moves
Seattle called up reliever Erik Swanson from the alternate training site. The right-hander made 27 appearances for the Mariners as a rookie in 2019, going 1-5. The team dropped C Joseph Odom to make room. Swanson, one of 17 pitchers on the roster, pitched in the ninth.
Up next
Mariners LHP Justus Sheffield (0-1, 12.00) makes his second start of the season after giving up four runs and four walks in 3 innings in his debut.
