The Oakland Athletics opened up their three-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Friday night and held their ground in the Wild Card race with a dominating 8-2 win.
Coco Crisp led off the bottom of the first with a home run to give the A's an early lead. Trayvon Robinson answered back with a solo homer of his own in the top of the second to tie things up.
Oakland went back ahead in the bottom of the third with -- what else -- yet another home run, this time a two-run shot from Stephen Drew. Brandon Moss added an RBI groundout in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-1 Athletics.
Michael Saunders led off the top of the seventh with a home run that made it 4-2 Oakland. The A's were able to get that run back in the bottom of the seventh when Stephen Pryor issued a bases-loaded walk to Yoenis Cespedes. Another run came home on a fielding error by Dustin Ackley and Josh Donaldson drove in a pair of runs with a single to make it 8-2 A's and firmly put the game out of reach.
Starting pitcher A.J. Griffin lasted 5.1 innings, giving up just one run on four hits and two walks. Griffin picked up the win to improve to 7-1 this season.