by Jerry Feitelberg

The A’s jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but the Mariners scored six unanswered runs to come from behind to defeat the A’s 6-5 Tuesday night in Seattle. The Mariners scored three in the fourth and three in the fifth, and they drove A’s starter Jesse Chavez out of the game in the fifth and sent him to his thirteenth loss of the year. Mariners starter Mike Montgomery lasted just an inning  and a third as the A’s scored all five runs off him. The big story of the night was the Mariner bullpen. Edgar Olmos, Logan Kensing, Carson Smith and Tom Wilhelmsen kept the A’s at bay and secured the win for Seattle.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the top of the first. Billy Burns, swinging on the first pitch, lined a single to center. Montgomery retired Mrk Canha and Brett Lawrie. However, he walked third baseman Danny Valencia to advance Burns into scoring position. A’s catcher Josh Phegley came through with a single to drive in Burns. 1-0 in the middle of the first.

The A’s scored four times on five hits in the second. Billy Butler led off the inning with a double to left. Josh Reddick then doubled down the right-field line to drive in Butler. Reddick advanced to third on a wild pitch. Shortstop Marcus Semien, back in the lineup after a two days on the bench, put a Mike Montgomery pitch into the left field seats.  Billy Burns singled for his second hit of the night. Montgomery retired Canha for the first out of the inning. Lawrie followed with a single to move Burns over to third. Mariners’ manager Lloyd McClendon decided that it was time to take Montgomery out of the game. The Mariners brought in lefty Edgar Olmos to face Danny Valencia. Valencia hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Burns with the fourth run of the inning and the fifth of the game for Oakland.  A’s lead 5-0 in the middle of the second inning.

The Mariners scored three times in the bottom of the fourth with his 38th home run of the year. Chavez retired the next two Mariner hitters. Austin Jackson doubled to deep center and then scored when first baseman Logan Morrison lined a shot down the right-field line that landed in the seats for his 13th homer of the season. Chavez retired Brad Miller for the third out.Mariners trail 5-3 after four.

The Mariners put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Mike Zunino singled to get the rally going. He advanced to second on a ground out to first. Zunino tagged and went to third on a long out to center. Nelson Cruz walked to put men on at first and third with two out. Robinson Cano hit a ball that glanced off Chavez’s glove that went for an infield hit. Had the ball not been deflected, Brett Lawrie probably would have retired Cano. Zunino scored on the play. Seth Smith walked to load the bases, and Austin Jackson singled up the middle to drive in two to take the lead.

The A’s had a chance to tie the game in the ninth. Sam Fuld reached second on a ground-rule double with two out. Josh Reddick flied out to right to end the threat.

Game Notes- A’s shortstop Marcus Semien hit his eleventh home run of the year in the second inning. Four of Semien’s homers have come against the Mariners. The two Seattle home runs off Jesse Chavez marked the sixth straight game that he has allowed a home run. The Mariners’ Robinson Cano hit his thirtieth double of the year. For Cano, it was the eleventh straight year with thirty doubles. Only Honus Wagner and Stan Musial in Major League have more consecutive years with thirty or more doubles.

The rubber match of the three-game series will start Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 in Seattle. Chris Bassitt (1-5,2.48) will pitch for Oakland, and King Felix Hernandez (14-8,3.74) will toil for Seattle.

Time of game was three hours and five minutes ans 17,498 were in the house.