Athletics at Mariners
The Seattle Mariners will try to keep the Oakland Athletics in the ballpark when the teams meet Saturday in the second of three games at Safeco Field. Oakland homered four times in a 6-3 series-opening victory on Friday and has eight home runs over the last 12 innings against Seattle pitching.
Yoenis Cespedes had two of the four long balls for the A's on Friday. The slugger has three multi-homer games this month alone. All three of those efforts have come on the road, which is where Oakland does its damage. The A's have hammered 52 homers in 42 road games, compared to 28 in 34 contests at home.
TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, CSN California (Oakland), ROOT Sports (Seattle)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics RH Dan Straily (4-2, 4.97 ERA) vs. Mariners RH Aaron Harang (3-7, 5.28)
Straily had a pretty good run come to an end Monday in Texas. After going 3-0 with a 2.20 ERA over five starts, he gave up six runs - including a pair of homers - in 4 2/3 frames against the Rangers. He had not allowed a home run over his previous six starts. Straily has given up 10 runs (nine earned) while walking eight in just 9 1/3 innings in two starts against Seattle.
It's hard to have more varied results than Harang has over the last month. He tossed two complete-game shutouts, produce one solid six-inning outing and tossed two stinkers, including an outing at the Los Angeles Angels on Monday in which he gave up four runs on 12 hits - the most he has allowed since Aug. 5, 2011 - in five frames of an 11-3 loss. In his only prior outing vs. Oakland, the 34-year-old walked eight batters in 3 2/3 innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Despite Oakland's recent power surge, the teams enter Saturday tied with 79 homers apiece.
2. A's closer Grant Balfour ran his consecutive saves streak to 36 on Friday.
3. Mariners 1B/DH Kendrys Morales is 4-for-8 with two home runs and a double against Straily.
PREDICTION: Athletics 6, Mariners 4