OAKLAND, CALIF. — Kyle Seager joined a select group Sunday by collecting a pair of doubles the Mariners continued their August surge with an 8-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
Seager drove in four runs with his two doubles and took over the club lead in RBIs with 77. He became the sixth player in franchise history to reach 30 doubles and 20 homers in four different seasons.
Hitting coach Edgar Martinez did it seven times.
The Mariners built a 7-1 lead through 5 1/2 innings for Wade LeBlanc, who gave two runs back in the sixth on a homer by Khris Davis before the Mariners turned to their bullpen.
A Wolfpack relay of Drew Storen, Archimedes Caminero and Nick Vincent closed out the Mariners’ 10th victory in 12 games.
Seager led a 12-hit attack with an RBI double in a two-run third inning that broke a 1-1 tie and a three-run double in the sixth. Nori Aoki added three hits, while Shawn O’Malley had two hits and a walk.
Storen inherited a 7-3 lead from LeBlanc (2-0) but started the seventh by giving up a homer to Brett Eibner. The Mariners answered in the eighth inning on Aoki’s two-out RBI single.
That’s how it ended. Caminero worked around two singles in a scoreless eighth before Vincent finished up.
The Mariners (62-54) closed to 5 1/2 games of first-place Texas in the American League West Division and remained two games behind Boston in the race for the AL’s final wild-card berth.
Oakland starter Zach Neal (2-2) had given up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings when he departed after Mike Zunino’s single.
The Mariners then feasted on reliever Daniel Coulombe, who walked O’Malley — who had two hits against Neal — on four pitches before Aoki’s single loaded the bases.
Seager followed by driving a three-run double into the right-center gap and, although he got trapped between second and third for an out, the Mariners led 7-1.
One run was charged to Neal; the other two to Coulombe.
Davis’ homer in the bottom of the inning against LeBlanc was his 30th of the year; he has seven against the Mariners in 12 games.
Adam Lind opened the scoring by leading off the second inning with a 443-foot drive into the upper deck in right field. It was his third homer in three career at-bats against Neal.
The lead didn’t survive the inning. Ryon Healy tied the game with one out in the Oakland second with a no-doubt drive to left.
The Mariners quickly regained the lead with a two-run third inning.
O’Malley led off with a double past first, went to third on Aoki’s grounder to first and scored on Seager’s double to right. Seager scored when Robinson Cano lined an RBI single into center for a 3-1 lead.
The Mariners added another run in the fourth by taking advantage of a mistake; Oakland second baseman Tyler Ladendorf failed to touch second for a force-out on what should have been an inning-ending double play.
A replay challenge overturned the out call, and the O’Malley followed with an RBI single to center.
Play of the game
All four Mariners’ infielders surrounded a high two-out pop by Jake Smolinski near the back of the pitchers’ mound in the third inning.
Shortstop Shawn O’Malley called for the ball but collided with first baseman Adam Lind in making the catch. O’Malley held the ball as Lind tumbled to the ground. That’s Tri-Cities toughness.
Stat pack
Kyle Seager’s double in the third inning was his 30th of the season and gave him four years with at least 30 doubles and 20 homers. Only five other players have had four or more 30/20 seasons in franchise history: Edgar Martinez (seven times), Ken Griffey Jr. (five), Raul Ibanez (four), Bret Boone (four) and Alex Rodriguez (four). Seager got his 31st double later in the game.
