A’s Win, Take Over Wild-Card Lead

The Oakland Athletics took over the wild-card lead and tightened the American League West race, getting two-run singles by Eric Chavez and Jeremy Giambi in a five-run first inning to beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-3, Friday night.

The Athletics closed within a game of Seattle for the division lead. They also moved a game ahead of Cleveland for the wild-card spot.

The Athletics won for the seventh time in eight games--all on the road. The Mariners lost their second consecutive game to Oakland.

Coming off Tim Hudson’s 5-2 victory Thursday night, the A’s got a solid performance from Omar Olivares (4-8). It was his first start since June 16, a day before he went on the disabled list because of a strained right shoulder.

In five-plus innings, Olivares gave up two runs and four hits, with two walks. Scott Service pitched four innings, giving up one run, for his first save.

Freddy Garcia (8-5), who was 4-0 in four September starts, gave up four hits and also made a throwing error in the first inning when Oakland batted around.

After Garcia gave up three consecutive hits in the fifth, capped by Miguel Tejada’s two-run double, he was gone.

He gave up eight runs, six earned, and eight hits.

Terrence Long drew a walk to lead off the game, Randy Velarde singled and Matt Stairs hit a run-scoring single.

After a walk to Ben Grieve, Chavez singled for a 3-0 lead. Garcia threw the ball into center when he attempted to pick off Grieve at second, moving runners to second and third, and Giambi singled them home.

In the fifth, Stairs and Grieve singled before Tejada’s double. Center fielder Mike Cameron’s error on Grieve’s hit allowed Grieve to take an extra base and resulted in another unearned run off Garcia.

Seattle’s Edgar Martinez got his 137th RBI with a sixth-inning double, tying Babe Ruth’s record for the most RBIs for a player 37 or older.