Jai Miller’s two-run homer helps Oakland Athletics defeat Seattle Mariners 2-0 – MLB Update
The Oakland Athletics faced a tough contest on Wednesday, September 28 as they beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0 at Safeco Field in Seattle.
Gio Gonzalez maintained eight scoreless innings against the Mariners to put the club on top of the game. He allowed just two hits in three weeks. He ended the season with an earned run average of 3.12 and a 16-12 standing. Jai Miller on the other hand, provided
assistance with the bat as he smashed a two-run homer in the game to put the A’s ahead of Seattle.
Mariners were unlucky as Anthony Vasquez lost the game for the club. He gave away four hits and two runs in just two innings. While the rest of the pitching rotation in the bull-pen kept the A’s hitters at bay, the young squad of home batters were unable
to respond against Oakland’s Gonzalez. Vasquez walked off the mound with an earned run average of 8.90 as he is 1-6 in 2011.
The only runs in the game came from the second inning. Oakland kicked off the inning with a double to deep right from Scott Sizemore. The third baseman was pouring pressure over Vasquez as he stole third base to set the stage for Oakland. Chris Carter was
unable to get Sizemore home as he struck-out swinging.
In his place came Jai Miller, who took no time in putting Vasquez away with a home-run to centre. The shot was good enough to put the club in front with the score 2-0. Chris Gimenez was close to being the saviour for the Mariners as he stood on third base
waiting for the nudge home from Justin Smoak in the bottom of the third.
Gimenez kicked off the inning with a single to right. He moved to second base when Ichiro Suzuki was allowed to walk by Gonzalez. Dustin Ackley then squandered the situation as he played into a double-play. Suzuki and Ackley were called out as Gimenez moved
to third base. Smoak then entered the picture to fly out to the left to end the inning.
With the score 2-0, the A’s grabbed the series victory with two consecutive wins over the Mariners. Manager Bob Melvin will be proud of his line-up that did well in the last few weeks.
The Athletics put in a tremendous performance as they fought hard throughout the game to get a much needed victory over the Mariners. Oakland dominated the Mariners and restricted their offence from scoring any runs in the game. Seattle will be looking to
improve their efforts and strengthen their line-up in the off-season period. With the regular season now finished, it will be interesting to see what changes both teams will work on as neither squad is in the play-offs.
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