Pratt's Instant Replay: Athletics 6, Mariners 1

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SEATTLE -- Hisashi Iwakuma almost ended up as a member of the A's. Oakland won the negotiating rights to the Japanese-born pitcher prior to the 2011 season but couldn't strike a deal. Iwakuma ended up staying in Japan for the 2011 season and signed with the Mariners this off-season. He was red hot entering Saturday night, having won five of his last eight starts for the Mariners, and looked to be in a good position to make the A's pay for not signing him. The A's hitters weren't concerned with his hot streak or the back story. They roughed up the right-handed pitcher for five runs, four earned, knocking him out of the game with two outs in the fourth inning en route to a 6-1 win over Seattle. At the PlateJust like the first inning on Friday night the A's capitalized on a Mariners' mistake to take an early lead. With Josh Reddick on first base Yoenis Cespedes pulled a ball very hard to third base, Kyle Seager completely missed the ball and it rolled all the way to the left field wall allowing Reddick to score. With two outs and Josh Donaldson on second base in the second inning, Cliff Pennington put a charge into a ball to left field on which Trayvon Robinson made a nice ranging catch to save a run. Cespedes hit one that Robinson couldn't get to in the fourth inning. He legged out a double for his first extra-base hit of September. Cespedes wasn't done running though. He stole third base and eventually scored on a Stephen Drew RBI single. George Kottaras kept the rally going by smashing a two-run homer to right field that left the park in a hurry. It was his eighth home run of the season and his second homer in as many days. Pennington then reached base on a single and scored from first on a Coco Crisp RBI double making it 5-1. The A's sent nine batters to the plate in their four-run fourth inning. Reddick went 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position stranding five runners. Reddick is now batting .201 with runners in scoring position this season. He did contribute to a ninth inning rally that scored a run. Seth Smith and Reddick hit back-to-back singles and Cespedes drove home Smith with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1. Starting Pitching ReportBrett Anderson has been nails since returning from Tommy John surgery. On Saturday he continued to carve up opposing hitters. He tossed six innings without allowing an earned run, struck out four, and walked none. Since returning to the A's starting rotation after 14 months of recovery he has struck out 19 batters and walked just three, allowing only two runs. Anderson, 24, has won all four of his starts in 2012. He threw 108 pitches on Saturday which is the most since his return. Robinson drove in Seattle's first and only run against Anderson. It was a fielder's choice RBI and the run wasn't charged to Anderson because Drew made an error on the previous play on a ball hit by Miguel Olive that allowed Michael Saunders to get to third base. Bullpen ReportPat Neshek entered the game in the seventh inning. He walked the leadoff batter and retired the next two hitters he face. Sean Doolittle finished the frame of Neshek then came back out for the eighth inning. He gave up one hit, struck out one batter and didn't allow a run in one and one-third innings pitched. Evan Scribner pitched a scoreless ninth inning with a comfortable five-run lead. In the FieldDrew was charged with an error after misplaying a ball in the second inning. The ball was hit far to his right and he attempted to field the ball and beat Saunders to third. He appeared to get ahead of himself and couldn't come up with the ball clean on what would have been a tough play to make either way. In the bottom of the third, Franklin Gutierrez smacked a ball to right field that would have been a double had it not been for a good play by Reddick. He got to the ball and made a perfect throw to second base halting Gutierrez in his tracks as he pulled up to first safely. AttendanceThe Mariners announced an attendance of 23,177. Those in attendance got to see the retractable roof close. Up NextThe series finale will feature a match-up of two lefties, Tommy Milone (11-10, 3.94 ERA) and Jason Vargas (14-9, 3.80 ERA). Milone has walked one batter or fewer in each of his last 13 starts. He ranks third in the American League in fewest walks per nine innings. He is 2-4 with a 5.71 ERA in his last seven starts. Vargas is 2-0 in four starts against the A's this season. He has emerged as one of the better pitchers in the A.L. this year. He is 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA since the All-Star Break.

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