Seattle Mariners vs Oakland Athletics Box Score on Sep 21, 2021

Marco Gonzales won his eighth straight decision as the Seattle Mariners defeated the host Oakland Athletics 5-2 on Tuesday night.

J.P. Crawford homered with one out in the ninth for the Mariners (82-69), who have won the first two games of the four-game series to pull even with the A's (82-69) for second place in the American League's West Division. Seattle and Oakland are three games back in the race for the AL's second and final wild-card playoff berth.

Gonzales (9-5) went six innings and allowed two runs on four hits, with the runs coming via solo homers by Matt Olson and Starling Marte. The left-hander walked one and struck out three.

Right-hander Drew Steckenrider pitched the ninth for his 10th save of the season.

A's lefty Paul Blackburn (1-3) gave up four runs -- three earned -- on six hits over four innings. He walked one and fanned five.

Olson gave the A's a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, hitting a two-out homer to right-center field on a 3-2 count. It was his career-high 37th homer of the season, surpassing the 36 he hit in 2019.

The Mariners tied it in the second as Jake Bauers was hit by a pitch with one out and Tom Murphy grounded a single into right field. Both runners advanced on a groundout by Jake Fraley and Bauers scored on Blackburn's errant pickoff attempt.

Seattle took the lead with a three-run fourth. Jarred Kelenic led off with a triple to center and Fraley drew a two-out walk. Dylan Moore hit a two-run triple to left-center and Crawford grounded a single to center to make it 4-1.

Marte led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to center on a 2-1 pitch.

Marte doubled with two outs in the eighth off right-hander Paul Sewald and the Mariners intentionally walked Olson to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but Sewald struck out Matt Chapman to end the inning.

--Field Level Media