Mariners 7, Athletics 6, 11 innings

By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The Seattle Mariners were so eager to get new manager Bob Melvin's first victory that they nearly blew it three times.

Ben Davis hit a leadoff homer in the 11th inning as the Mariners lost two late leads but still got Melvin his first victory, beating the Oakland Athletics 7-6 on Thursday.

Seattle led 4-3 in the ninth inning of an otherwise normal game, but Scott Hatteberg tied it with an RBI single off closer Kazuhiro Sasaki.

After Mike Cameron drove home pinch-runner Mark McLemore with a sacrifice fly off Keith Foulke in the 10th, Terrence Long hit a one-out homer to right off Jeff Nelson (1-0) to tie it again.

``Maybe people put a little extra pressure on themselves because we're trying to get Bob's first win,'' said Nelson, who got the victory despite throwing 55 pitches and allowing two runs in two innings. ``At least we've got something to show for all the work we had to do.''

The excitement was lost on Melvin, the San Francisco Bay area native who took over for Lou Piniella in the offseason.

``They made me work for that first one,'' Melvin said. ``By the (11th) inning, I was peeking around the door of the dugout bathroom. I asked (pitching coach) Bryan Price: 'Does it have to be this hard?' I don't know how many of those games you can survive in a season.''

Davis' first hit of the season was a homer to left-center off Ricardo Rincon (0-1), and the catcher nearly sprinted around the bases.

``I don't hit very many of them, so I don't want anyone to notice when I hit one,'' Davis said of his 27th career homer. ``It's going to be like this a lot in our division. There's going to be a lot of close games, and we're going to have to get used to it.''

McLemore added a run-scoring double in the 11th, and it turned out to be very necessary.

Oakland loaded the bases with a single, an error and an intentional walk. Nelson allowed a sacrifice fly to Jermaine Dye before striking out Adam Piatt with runners on second and third to end it.

``We never did get the lead,'' said new Oakland manager Ken Macha, who got his first loss. ``We had the bases loaded and only got one run in, but we had a lot of fight in us.''

Ichiro Suzuki had three hits, and Edgar Martinez drove in two runs as the Mariners avoided a season-opening series sweep.

Mark Mulder didn't meet the standard set by fellow Oakland starters Tim Hudson and Barry Zito in the first two games of the series. Hudson and Zito allowed one run in 14 combined innings, but Mulder was erratic from the start, allowing Martinez's RBI groundout and Bret Boone's run-scoring double in the first inning.

``I didn't know where the ball was going the first couple of innings,'' Mulder said. ``I was falling behind way too much. I felt great, but I just didn't get it done.''

In front of 6,295 fans in the cavernous Coliseum, Mulder allowed eight hits three by Suzuki, who's 10-for-20 in his career against the left-hander and four walks in six innings.

Joel Pineiro gave up five hits and three walks in six innings, but he retired eight straight batters at one point and generally stayed in control, though Erubiel Durazo drove in his sixth run in his first three games with Oakland.

In the ninth, Chris Singleton singled and advanced to second on Ellis' bunt a surprising move for a team assembled by Oakland GM Billy Beane and former manager Art Howe, who both have considerable disdain for sacrifice bunts.< ^Notes:@ The game was the first of two makeup games from the teams' canceled trip to Japan; the second will be played on June 30. ... Two of Suzuki's hits off Mulder were perfectly placed bloops. ``I was laughing,'' Mulder said. ``He couldn't have thrown it (into the outfield) any better. I was baffled. I joked with Terrence to go hang out with the third-base umpire the next time (Suzuki) comes up.''

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)