The Associated Press
Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki connects for an eighth-inning single, his third hit of the game, against Oakland on Thursday. Suzuki went on to steal second and third base and scored on a two-run double by Edgar Martinez.

Six runs down, so what?

Mariners rally from six-run deficit to beat Oakland A's

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published June 22

OAKLAND, Calif. -- It was just another day at the ballpark for the Seattle Mariners, who got their 25th come-from-behind victory on Thursday.

Edgar Martinez's go-ahead, two-run double in the eighth inning helped the Mariners overcome a six-run deficit and led to a 12-10 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Mike Cameron, Al Martin, Bret Boone and David Bell homered for the Mariners, who had 17 hits and gained a four-game split and avoided what would have been their first series loss since dropping two of three to the New York Yankees from May 18-20.

"We got off to a bad start, but we came back like we've done all year," Boone said. "It's been a big cast. A lot of guys are playing a lot of different roles and it's making it fun to come to the park every day."

Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi and Eric Chavez homered for the A's, all off reliever Ryan Franklin.

Jose Paniagua (3-1) pitched 1 1-3 hitless innings, and Arthur Rhodes got five straight outs for his second save in four chances, striking out three.

Oakland led 10-9 in the eighth when Ichiro Suzuki singled with two outs off Jeff Tam (0-3) and stole second, Mark McLemore walked and the pair pulled off a double steal.

Rather than walk Martinez, Tam pitched to him and allowed a double that went on a hop to the wall in right-center.

McLemore added an RBI single in the ninth.

"It was a tough series, but we were able to get some good at bats after Martin hit that home run to get us back in it," Martinez said. "Then it went crazy."

Each team had a lead in every game of the series, and each game was decided from the seventh inning on. There were 12 lead changes during the series.

"That was a great series," Boone said. "Every game came down to the wire. Every game was right there."

Oakland's Cory Lidle, given a 6-0 lead in the first, allowed eight runs -- five earned -- and 10 hits in 4 1-3 inning. Coming in, Lidle had the third-lowest run support in the AL, an average of 3.10 runs per start.

"We couldn't hold on," A's manager Art Howe said. "It's a shame it has to come on a day we break out offensively. Those last two innings were tough. We had them two outs each time and they still got their runs."

Seattle's John Halama gave up seven runs -- four earned -- and eight hits in 2 1-3 innings, matching his second-shortest outing of the season.

Oakland went ahead in the first on Jason Giambi's RBI double, John Jaha's run-scoring groundout, Miguel Tejada's RBI single, Ramon Hernandez's sacrifice fly and Johnny Damon's two-run single.

Martin, who entered hitting .188 and went 3-for-3, hit a two-run homer in the second and Cameron's three-homer homer in the third pulled Mariners to 6-5. It came after Tejada made his fourth error in six games, booting a potential double-play grounder to shortstop.

"Martin got us two runs back real quick and that was important," Seattle manager Lou Piniella said. "We felt like we were back in the ballgame. Then it was a tug-of-war for six or seven innings."

Hernandez's RBI single made it 7-5 in the bottom half, Bell homered in the fourth and Jason Giambi gave Oakland an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the fourth against Ryan Franklin with his 19th homer.

Boone, entering as a pinch hitter in the fifth, put Seattle ahead 9-8 with a three-run homer off Mike Magnante.

Oakland went back ahead when Jeremy Giambi homered in the fifth and Chavez connected in the sixth.

Mariners 12, A's 10

- Record: 54-17.

- Today: Anaheim (Washburn 4-4) at Seattle (Sele 8-0), 7 p.m. (FSN).

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