Mariners 4, Athletics 3
SEATTLE -- Felix Hernandez gave up two home runs to the same player but very little else on Sunday afternoon while leading the Seattle Mariners to a 4-3 win and series sweep over the Oakland A's.
Hernandez allowed five hits -- two of them home runs to Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien -- and two earned runs while improving to 6-0 for the first time in his 10-year career. He struck out six, including his 2,000th career strikeout in the fifth inning.
Semien had two solo home runs, his fourth and fifth homers of the season, to become the first player since Gordon Beckham of the Chicago White Sox on June 1, 2012, to homer twice off Hernandez in the same game. Catcher Stephen Vogt added a solo homer off Seattle closer Fernando Rodney in the ninth.
But it wasn't enough to help the A's (12-21), who were swept for the second time this season and have now lost five in a row.
Seattle (14-17) matched its season-best winning streak of three games with the victory.
Left fielder Dustin Ackley drove in a pair of runs with a fourth-inning double, while second baseman Robinson Cano and third baseman Kyle Seager each had an RBI for the Mariners.
Closer Fernando Rodney gave up a home run but got through the ninth inning to earn his ninth save of the season. Rodney has successfully converted seven consecutive save opportunities.
Semien drove in the game's first run with a solo home run in the top of the third.
Oakland starter Jesse Chavez didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, when the Mariners erupted for three hits and three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Seager had an RBI double and came home to score on center fielder Dustin Ackley's two-run double in the fourth.
In the top of the fifth, Hernandez recorded his fifth strikeout of the game, and the 2,000th of his career, when he caught Oakland's Sam Fuld looking. The 29-year-old Hernandez became the 73rd pitcher, and the fourth-youngest, in major league history to notch 2,000 career strikeouts.
The Mariners tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth, when a sacrifice fly from Cano gave Seattle a 4-1 lead.
In 6 2/3 innings, Chavez (1-3) allowed four earned runs off five hits -- all of it coming in the fourth and fifth innings -- while striking out seven.
Vogt had three hits, with two of them coming against Hernandez. Vogt now has seven hits in 12 career at-bats against Seattle's ace. He added a solo homer with one out in the ninth, pulling the A's to within 4-3 before first baseman Ike Davis flew out to centerfield and pinch hitter Coco Crisp struck out to finish off the loss.
A's third baseman Brett Lawrie went 0-for-3 in the game and 0-for-11 in the series, with five strikeouts, and was lifted for a pinch hitter in each of the past two games.
NOTES: New Oakland RHP Edward Mujica was not on the roster before Sunday's game, as he was still in transit from Boston after a Saturday night trade for future considerations. Mujica, who turned 31 on Sunday, had been designated for assignment by the Red Sox before the Saturday night deal was made. The A's cleared a spot for him on their 40-man roster by transferring RHP Jarrod Parker (broken elbow) from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list, but they will still need to make another move to get Mujica on the 25-man roster. ... Mariners SS Chris Taylor (hand) was a late scratch for Sunday's game. Taylor hurt his hand sliding back into first base during the sixth inning of Saturday night's game, and it was sore Sunday. Brad Miller got the start at shortstop.