Raleigh, Garver homer to help Mariners beat Athletics, 2-0

SEATTLE (AP) Cal Raleigh hit his 32nd homer, Bryan Woo struck out eight in five innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 on Friday night.

Mitch Garver also homered for the Mariners, a day after Seattle was eliminated from postseason contention. Oakland also was coming off an emotional day after playing its final scheduled home game at the Coliseum, a 3-2 victory over Texas.

Woo (9-3) allowed just three hits and a walk.

“It was kind of a weird 24 hours,” Woo said. “Knowing you’re out of it, but you still want to finish strong. For yourself, for the team, for the fans, for everybody. Everybody else deserves that out of you and so you’ve got to find it in yourself to give it everything you have.”

He has 101 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings this season. This was the seventh time in his 22 starts he did not allow a run.

“He had five really strong today,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “What an incredible season for another one of our young starters. I thought he had a great year, and threw the ball well tonight.”

Oakland starter JP Sears (11-13) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings.

The Mariners opened the final three-game series of the season after seeing their playoff hopes officially end on an off day, watching as the Royals and Tigers both won to knock out Seattle from wild-card contention.

The Mariners led the AL West by 10 games in June before hitting a skid and seeing the division lead evaporate over a month. A late surge gave Seattle some slight postseason hope that was finally extinguished Thursday.

Despite that, the crowd of 41,429 was relatively upbeat, especially when Garver gave Seattle a 1-0 lead with his 15th homer to lead off the second inning.

Raleigh added another run with his home run to center field in the third inning. Raleigh leads major league catchers with the 32 homers.

“Garv really crushed it, Cal crushed it,” Wilson said. “Those were big knocks and gave us what we needed tonight. Our pitching was really, really strong.”

Mariners relievers Gabe Speier, Gregory Santos, Tayler Saucedo and Troy Taylor each pitched an inning in Seattle’s 15th shutout of the season, with Taylor getting his first career save.

“That’s a big deal for him,” Wilson said. “He’s been given some higher leverage situations, and he’s been able to handle them. You’ve got to love that from a young kid. He’s another guy that really wants the ball in those situations, and that’s a good sign.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

The A’s reinstated RHP Ross Stripling from the IL before the game. Stripling had been on the 15-day IL since Sept. 11 because of a lower back strain. Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said Stripling would pitch out of the bullpen at some point in the series.

UP NEXT

Seatle will call up RHP Emerson Hancock (4-4, 4.72 ERA) from Triple-A to start Saturday against Oakland. Hancock has made 11 starts for Seattle this season, most recently on September 21 against Texas. The Athletics were set to start RHP Joey Estes (7-9, 4.99 ERA).

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