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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SEATTLE (AP) -- After 86 days, the Oakland Athletics have finally caught the Seattle Mariners.
|  | | Ben Grieve, center, broke things open with his seventh-inning slam. |
Kevin Appier allowed one hit in seven innings and Ben Grieve hit a grand slam in a six-run seventh as the A's beat Seattle 8-2 Saturday to move past the Mariners into first place in the AL West.
"We're only going to get better," Grieve said. "A lot of guys on our team are really hot right now."
The A's have won the first three games of the four-game series
to take the division lead for the first time since June 28. They're
85-68 (.556) with nine games remaining, one percentage point ahead
of Seattle, which is 86-69 (.555) and has seven games left.
"Those guys are relentless," Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez
said.
Both the Mariners and the A's are one game ahead of Cleveland in
the wild-card race.
Oakland, coming off 5-2 and 8-3 wins in the first two games,
improved to 8-1 on its road trip and 16-5 in September. In Sunday's
series finale, John Halama pitches for Seattle against Ariel
Prieto.
"We're going to try to get a little greedy," Oakland manager
Art Howe said.
Seattle had won eight straight coming into the series but is
hitting just .154 (14-for-91) in the three games. The A's are 9-3
against the Mariners, 5-1 in Seattle.
"We're still tied for first place and we're going to get the
job done," Seattle manager Lou Piniella said, choosing to look at
games back rather than percentage.
Appier (15-11) allowed only a game-tying, two-run homer to Edgar
Martinez in the fourth, striking out seven and walking four.
"I think my experience helped a lot today," Appier said.
"Having been around for so long in these situations really keeps
your focus. You don't let the circumstances freak you out."
He had been 0-3 with a 7.13 ERA against Seattle this season.
"I had a lot better command today," Appier said. "In the
three losses, I didn't have good command."
Jeff Tam and Doug Jones finished the two-hitter.
Ramon Hernandez put Oakland ahead in the seventh with an RBI
double off Arthur Rhodes (4-8), and Terrence Long followed with a
run-scoring single for a 4-2 lead.
Grieve homered to center with two outs off Jose Paniagua, his
third slam of the season and Oakland's 13th, a major league record.
After Grieve's 27th homer of the season, the sellout crowd of
45,406 at Safeco Field began streaming out.
"To go from a two-run lead to a six-run lead was huge," Grieve said.
Oakland took a 2-0 lead in the second on Jeremy Giambi's RBI
double and Long's run-scoring single. Martinez tied it with his
35th home.
Game notes
Grieve had slams against Minnesota's Eddie Guardado on
April 29 and Anaheim's Brian Cooper on July 22. ... With 102 RBI, Grieve topped 100 for the first time. ... Atlanta (1997) and
Cleveland (1999) had shared the record of 12 slams. ... Martinez
has 139 RBI, the most for a player 37 or older. Babe Ruth drove in
137 in 1932. ... Rickey Henderson of Seattle walked twice to give 2,059 in his career. ... After Piniella went to the mound to take out Abbott, the pitcher was ejected by third-base umpire Jeff Nelson for arguing about a check swing strike call to Matt Stairs. "I already took him out of the game, so he got tossed twice,"
Piniella said. Abbott said he didn't know what he said to Nelson to
get kicked out. ... Rodriguez was 0-for-4 and committed his ninth
error. He's 1-for-12 for the series.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Oakland Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 13
Detroit 8
Oakland 8
Seattle 2
Toronto 7
Tampa Bay 6
Boston 8
Baltimore 7
Chi. White Sox 5
Minnesota 3
Cleveland 11
Kansas City 1
Anaheim 15
Texas 4
Cincinnati 6
Houston 4
St. Louis 6
Chicago Cubs 5
Florida 3
Colorado 1
Arizona 7
San Francisco 5
San Francisco 9
Arizona 5
(2nd game)
Pittsburgh 4
Milwaukee 2
Milwaukee 5
Pittsburgh 4
(2nd game)
Atlanta 10
Montreal 0
NY Mets 7
Philadelphia 3
Los Angeles 2
San Diego 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 ESPN's Al Bernstein talks with Kevin Appier after his superb performance against the Mariners.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Alex Rodriguez says Seattle is looking forward to tomorrow.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Ben Grieve and the A's are happy to come out of Seattle with three straight wins.
wav: 114 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Lou Piniella says the Mariners will find a way to get into the playoffs.
wav: 168 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mike Cameron and the Mariners are looking to regroup for their last 7 games.
wav: 83 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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