Gordon breaks tie to help Mariners close gap on Athletics
OAKLAND, California — Dee Gordon doesn’t have many home runs this season. Two to be exact. So when Seattle’s light-hitting utility player muscled up in the 12th inning, he celebrated by kissing both biceps as he stood in the dugout after crossing home plate.
It was a good-natured gesture toward a few of Gordon’s teammates who were ribbing him as he rounded the bases. It was also an expression of relief for the Mariners, who lost the first two games of this series after sweeping first-place Houston on the road.
Gordon homered off Yusmeiro Petit to break a scoreless tie, and the Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.
“I got lucky,” Gordon said. “It’s evening out. I’ve been lining out so much the last month.”
Jean Segura had four hits to help the Mariners close within 2 12 ⁄ games of the A’s for the second AL wild-card spot.
“We needed to get this ballgame today,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “It’s not going to get any easier, but we’re starting to play with our confidence again and have some swag to our team.”
Seattle’s Mike Leake pitched eight innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts and one walk. Oakland’s Brett Anderson went 7 23 ⁄ innings without allowing a run in his longest outing since June 16, 2015.
Nick Martini had three hits for the A’s and Matt Olson added two. Oakland entered the day one game behind first-place Houston.
“In games like that, typically what happens, it’s one pitch,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “That was the case today. Even though today was tough, we have to look at it as a positive. We took the series.”
Both teams squandered numerous scoring opportunities before Seattle scraped together two runs on one hit.
After Petit (5-3) got leadoff man Denard Span to ground out, Mike Zunino walked. Gordon hit the next pitch over the right-field wall. Then he flexed and kissed his biceps.
“I was messing with Cam [Maybin] and [Denard Span] because they’ve been calling me skinny so I had to let them know I’ve got some guns,” Gordon said. “And it was a big situation ... in a playoff race. Just having fun.”
Gordon’s only other home run was a solo shot against Cleveland on April 1 in Seattle’s third game of the season.
James Pazos (3-1) retired one batter for the victory. Edwin Diaz pitched the 12th for his major league-leading 47th save in 50 opportunities. KANSAS CITY — Curtis Granderson hit a grand slam, Marco Estrada pitched effectively into the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Wednesday night.
Jorge Lopez (0-2), who was making his Royals debut after being acquired July 27 from Milwaukee as part of the Mike Moustakas trade, threw a 2-0 fastball that Granderson drove over the Royals’ right-field bullpen gate with two outs in the fourth inning.
It was Granderson’s 10th career grand slam and his second this year, both against the Royals. The first was April 18 in Toronto.
Royals pitchers have yielded a major league-leading 10 grand slams.
Kevin Pillar singled home Teoscar Hernandez with the first run of the fourth and contributed an RBI single in the second for the Blue Jays, who have won three of four.