Athletics Outlast Mariners

After 12 pitchers, 24 men left on base and nearly four hours of baseball, Oakland relief ace Dennis Eckersley was not going to let this game get away.

“I definitely didn’t want to blow that save, or we would have been here for hours more,” said Eckersley, who put the finishing touches on the Athletics’ 5-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday to earn his 45th save.

Many in the crowd of 30,159 were long gone by the time Eckersley struck out Shane Turner with the tying run at second base to end the game. Shame on them, said Oakland manager Tony La Russa.

“If you left that game, you’d have to be an idiot not to stay around for Eck,” La Russa said. “Right now, Eck being out there in the ninth inning is as good as it gets in baseball.”

What preceded Eckersley was quite the opposite. Mariners manager Bill Plummer made five pitching changes -- four in one inning -- before handing the chess game over to La Russa for five pitching moves of his own.

“If I’d have played that game in April, I’d be tired -- and this is September,” La Russa said.

Three of Plummer’s pitchers were rookies. One of them, Eric Gunderson, was called on simply to issue an intentional walk to Ruben Sierra. He doffed his cap to the crowd and was congratulated by Randy Johnson on the step of the dugout after performing the task.

The last time the Mariners beat the A’s at the Oakland Coliseum was 13 games ago, on July 31, 1990. Oakland is 9-0 against Seattle this season.

Minnesota arrives Monday for a three-game series, the season’s finale between the top two teams in the AL West. The A’s lead the Twins by six games.

“This club’s not looking ahead,” said La Russa. “We’re concentrating on the games we’re playing, and that’s a really good sign.”

Mike Moore won for the first time in five starts for the A’s.

Moore (14-11) gave up eight hits and two runs -- one earned -- in 5 2-3 innings. He was followed by five relievers, including Eckersley who pitched out of a jam after giving up a one-out double to Pete O’Brien.