By George Devine, Sr.

In a road game at Safeco Field, the A’s beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-2, and won home field advantage in the ALDS, beginning Friday, October 4.

The batting barrage began in the top of the first inning when Brandon Moss hit his ninth homer of the year, to right over the Safeco sign, after Coco Crisp had doubled to center and Jed Lowrie had singled to left. In the bottom of the inning, Franklin Gutierrez answered with a solo shot to left for his tenth home run of the year. Seattle’s other run came when Kendrys Morales went deep to right for his twenty-third.

In the seventh, Derek Norris hit his ninth homer of the season to right, after Josh Reddick had walked. Daric Barton reached first base on a throwing error by second baseman Nick Franklin; then Crisp doubled to left advancing Barton to third. When Josh Donaldson grounded out 5-3, Barton scored. In the following inning Chris Young walked, and Norris doubled to left scoring him. Norris then came to the plate when Barton singled to left.

The winner is Bartolo Colon (18-6; 6 ip, 3 h, 2 er, 1 w, 8 k, 2 hr) and the loser Felix Hernandez (12-10; 6 ip, 5 h, 3 er, 1 q, 6 k, 1 hr).

The two teams meet again at 1:10 p.m. PDT on Saturday, September 29 with Jarrod Parker (12-7) facing Brandon Maurer (4-8).