Giants fall to Padres; M’s beat A’s

SAN FRANCISCO (TNS) – It was no surprise when Albert Suarez was activated Tuesday to start against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park.

The unexpected news was how room on the roster was created, as pitcher Johnny Cueto was placed on the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with elbow inflammation.

Given the way Suarez pitched in a 3-2 loss to the San Diego Padres, coupled with the way the Giants have been ravaged by injuries – now awaiting an MRI to determine just how bad Cueto is hurt – the rookie may be sticking around while.

Eric Hosmer hit a two-out, opposite field home run against Giants closer Hunter Strickland (3-1) in the ninth inning for the win, amounting to a double gut-punch before a crowd of 36,735 given the news on Cueto.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy hoped to have the goods on Cueto today, and said he had no idea of how long their ace would be out after a sterling month of April. The best case scenario is Cueto misses a start or two. The worst case is too painful for the Giants to contemplate.

“It was to the point where we had to put him on the disabled list, so it’s going to be awhile,” Bochy said.

Cueto, who had a flexor issue with his elbow last season, was 3-0 in April with an 0.84 ERA. He had not given up more than two earned runs in any start, but was doing it in some pain.

Mariners 6, A’s 3 Andrew Triggs did his best to keep the Mariners powerful offense at bay, but eventually it broke through.

After allowing the first two runners to reach base in the fifth, Triggs hung a first-pitch slider to Nelson Cruz that was launched over the wall in left-center to break the tie and put the Mariners ahead 4-1 as the A’s eventually fell for their third straight loss.

Triggs had allowed Mariners base runners in each of the first four innings, but had managed to limit the damage to just one run before allowing the homer to Cruz. He proceeded to allow the next two batters to reach base after Cruz before getting pulled for Trivino. Triggs failed to complete five innings, allowing four runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts on 86 pitches as he fell to 2-1 with his ERA now at 5.20.

Jed Lowrie got the A’s on the board first with a soaring solo home run off Felix Hernandez in the first innning. It was his seventh of the season