The Oakland A’s fell to the last place Seattle Mariners 2-0 tonight at Safeco Field. Brett Anderson put together a solid performance, holding the Mariners to 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 7. Unfortunately for Anderson, Mariners ace Felix Hernandez lived up to his “King” nickname tonight. King Felix struck out a career-high 13 A’s batters and held the A’s to 5 hits.
The A’s only opportunity against Hernandez was a golden one in the first inning that they let slip through their fingers. The A’s loaded the bases with three straight singles with nobody out. A Jack Cust strikeout was followed by Kevin Kouzmanoff hitting into a double play and Hernandez was out of the inning. The A’s managed 2 more hits, a walk, and Mark Ellis reaching first on a Hernandez wild pitch following a strikeout. None of those batters advanced to second.
With the Rangers and Angels winning tonight, the A’s dropped into third place and are now nine games out of first place. They look to salvage what has been a disastrous start to the road trip when they send out Dallas Braden to face Luke French in the matinee finale tomorrow.