by Jerry Feitelberg

The Seattle Mariners pounded A’s pitching Wednesday night in Seattle, sending them down to defeat by a score of 13-3. The A’s Zach Neal made his first Major League start, and it was not pretty. Neal went just four innings and allowed eight hits and seven runs.

The A’s scored first in the top of the second. Khris Davis homered to right field to put Oakland in the lead 1-0. The Mariners’ Adam Lind hit a solo homer in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game.

The Mariners took charge in the bottom of the third. The Mariners scored six runs on seven hits. The big blow was Adam Lind’s second home run of the game. With two out and two on, Lind drove a ball into the seats in right field to make it 7-1.

The A’s managed to score two in the top of the fifth but the Mariners got one back in the bottom of the frame. The Mariners scored four more in the seventh. Nelson Cruz hit a two-run dinger for the M’s. Robinson Cano homered in the eighth with a man on board to end the scoring for Seattle.  Seattle wins 13-3.

Game notes- The Mariners took two out of three from the A’s to win the three-game series.  Adam Lind was the star of the game for the Mariners. Lind had two home runs, a double and a single and he drove in six runs. The A’s have now lost six of the last seven games and their record for the season is 20-28. The only bright spot for Oakland was the performance of Rich Hill Monday night.  The starting rotation has not performed well so far, and things do not look as if they will improve soon. Sonny Gray is on the DL, and his return is uncertain.

A’s second baseman Jed Lowrie returned from a stint on the DL, but his presence in the lineup did not help the offense Wednesday night. Zach Neal took the loss, and Hisashi Iwakuma won his third game of the year. Seattle leads the AL West with a record of 28-18.

The A’s have an off-day on Thursday and return to play Friday night against the Detroit Tigers.The Tigers took three out four from the A’s earlier this year in Detroit. Also, the Tigers are hot. They have won eight of the last ten games played. The A’s Sean Manaea will handle the pitching chores for Oakland, and he will be opposed by the Tigers’ Michael Fulmer. Game time will be at 7:05 pm Friday night at the Oakland Coliseum.