Associated Press
Stephen Piscotty and Matt Chapman homered, Matt Olson had three hits and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Seattle Mariners 7-5 on Friday night.
Oakland pulled 1 1/2 games behind first-place Houston — which lost to the Los Angeles Angels — in the AL West, and extended its lead for the second wild card over Seattle to 5 1/2 games.
The A’s have won 20 of their last 29 games and are 26-13 since the All-Star break.
The Mariners have lost four of their last five.
After squandering an early 5-0 lead, the A’s scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth and then turned to their shutdown bullpen, which combined for 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief after Mike Fiers was rocked in his shortest outing of the season.
Yusmeiro Petit (6-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win.
Blake Treinen worked a scoreless ninth for his 34th save after Fernando Rodney, Lee Trivino and Jeurys Familia each pitched one inning.
Olson singled leading off the fifth and scored the go-ahead run on Ramon Laureano’s sacrifice fly.
The A’s extended their lead to 7-5 in the sixth when Khris Davis singled in Jed Lowrie.
Fiers gave up five runs in 3 1/3 innings in his worst start since coming to Oakland in a trade with the Tigers on Aug. 6.
Piscotty’s 19th home run — a two-run shot to left off Mariners starter Mike Leake — highlighted a five-run first inning in which the A’s sent nine men to the plate.
Chapman started the inning with his 22nd home run — a solo shot to left — and Olson had an RBI double.
Leake (8-9) gave up six runs and 11 hits with two walks in 4 1/3 innings. He lost his fourth straight decision and is winless in his last 11 starts.
NOTES: Mariners RF Mitch Haniger extended his hitting streak to 12 games. … The A’s are 66-0 when leading after eight innings. Seattle shortstop Jean Segura was out of Friday’s lineup with a deep bone bruise in his left shin. He suffered the injury fouling a ball off his leg on Wednesday in a game against San Diego. … Left-hander Marco Gonzales (neck muscle strain) threw on flat ground for a second straight day on Friday, but it’s not known when he’ll throw a bullpen session, the next step in his recovery, manager Scott Servais said. Gonzales went on the DL Aug. 27, retroactive to Aug. 24…Mariners lefty James Paxton (10-5, 3.68 ERA) will make his start since going on the DL with a left forearm contusion on Aug. 15. A’s righty Daniel Mengden (6-6, 4.28) is 0-2 with a 4.91 ERA in two career starts against Seattle.
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