Thursday, April 18, 2002
Mariners go 10-0 on road trip
The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Seattle Mariners didn't need to win 10 straight road games to prove they're good. They already knew it.
“We are good, we play the game the right way,” Bret Boone said after the Mariners finished up a 10-0 road trip Wednesday night with a 7-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics. “We don't make mistakes, we capitalize on them.”
The Mariners, who set an AL record with 59 road wins last season, won four games at Anaheim, four more at Texas and finished with a two-game sweep at the Coliseum.
“It was an exceptional road trip,” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “We went into these games to win — and we did.”
Seattle became the sixth team to start a season with at least 10 straight road victories. Atlanta was the last club to do it in 1994. The Mariners also tied the '94 Braves for the fifth-longest winning streak on road to open the season. The 1984 Detroit Tigers hold the record with 17 road wins.
Ichiro Suzuki had a three-run double and John Olerud hit a two-run homer for Seattle.
Jamie Moyer (2-1) allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. Last season's 20-game winner for Seattle hasn't given up more than three runs in any of his first four starts.
Kazuhiro Sasaki got his fourth save.
“They have a killer instinct,” A's manager Art Howe said about the Mariners. “Right now if you make a mistake against them they make you pay, and that's exactly what happened tonight.”
The A's have lost three straight, and five of their last seven after a 6-2 start.
Tim Hudson (2-1) had allowed just one run in each of his previous three starts. Olerud's two-run homer in the first inning ended that streak.
Olerud sent a 1-0 pitch from Hudson over the wall in left field for his fourth homer of the season. He scored Boone, who singled.
It was the first home run Hudson has given up this season.
The A's tied it in the fourth on Ramon Hernandez's sacrifice fly.
The Mariners retook the lead in the fifth when Olerud's groundout scored Jeff Cirillo. But it was short-lived as the A's retied it in the bottom half on Miguel Tejada's RBI single.
Cirillo's go-ahead single off Hudson in the sixth scored Mark McLemore, who doubled.
The Mariners led 4-3 in the eighth when Suzuki came up with the bases loaded and no outs. Mike Holtz got two quick strikes, but Suzuki came back to line a double into the gap in left-center field.
Suzuki, last season's AL MVP and Rookie of the Year, stretched his hitting streak to 11 games. After fouling off a tough, low-and-away pitch, he reached down to get the game-breaking hit.
“Ichiro put the game out of reach for us. It's so nice to have him come up there and hit the ball for us. I think he can hit anything,” Boone said.
Frank Menechino hit a solo homer in the Oakland ninth.
Notes: Seattle starts a nine-game homestand Friday. ... The Mariners have scored at least four runs in 15 of the season's 16 games. ... While the Mariners won last season's series against the A's 10-9, Oakland was the only team to beat Seattle more than five times. ... Cirillo has not had an error at third base in 98 games, one shy of the major league record set by John Wehner. ... The A's recalled RHP Mike Fyhrie from Triple-A Sacramento to take injured LHP Mark Mulder's spot in the rotation. He will start Saturday against Anaheim. ... Jermaine Dye started his rehab assignment for Triple-A Sacramento Tuesday night and went 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs an RBI and a walk as a designated hitter. Dye broke his left leg in Game 4 of last year's playoff series against the Yankees.
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Mariners go 10-0 on road trip
