By Pearl Allison Lo

The second batter of the inning, Stephen Vogt, homered, but the Seattle Mariners’ Felix Hernandez kept Oakland in check past the first inning, to support a 3-2 Friday win for his team.

Jed Lowrie tacked on another run for a 2-0 first inning

Hernandez has gone eight innings in his last three starts and thrown at least eight strikes in each of them. Tonight he threw nine.

On the other side, recently acquired Jeff Samardzija went the distance for the A’s.

Batters went down in order six times during the game.

The Mariners’ used leadoff hits following the first inning, to help tie the game. Logan Morrison had a home run as well in the bottom of the second and Brad Miller had a double, brought in later by a sacrifice fly.

Oakland did have the bases loaded after two outs in the top of the fifth

Seattle went ahead for good in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, they had two consecutive doubles to score.

Fernando Rodney received his 27th save, which puts him on top in the league. It was not straightforward, however, with a walk and a wild pitch. The A’s Derek Norris got to third for the tying run with two outs , but Nick Punto struck out.

Scored first your last four games in 12 of them