Mariners 6, Athletics 2
Reigning Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez pitched a five-hitter and the Seattle Mariners opened the season with a 6-2 victory over the host Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
Hernandez (1-0) struck out five and recorded the first opening day complete-game victory in Mariners’ history.
Josh Willingham hit a two-run homer in the first inning in his first at-bat with the Athletics, who committed five errors.
Chone Figgins hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning for Seattle.
Seattle tied it 2-2 in the sixth on Ichiro Suzuki’s run-scoring single. Ichiro was caught stealing just prior to Figgins’ go-ahead homer off Oakland reliever Craig Breslow (0-1).
The Mariners scored three times in the seventh to take a 6-2 lead with help from two Oakland errors - a dropped throw by first baseman Daric Barton and a wild pickoff attempt by reliever Brad Ziegler.
The Athletics started the eighth with back-to-back singles by Landon Powell and Mark Ellis, but Hernandez got out of the jam by retiring Ryan Sweeney on an inning-ending double play. Hernandez pitched a perfect ninth, striking out Barton and David DeJesus to end the contest.
Ichiro, Figgins and Miguel Olivo had two hits apiece for Seattle.
Oakland starter Trevor Cahill struck out eight but lasted only 4 2/3 innings. He allowed one run, four hits and four walks and threw 105 pitches.