“It’s a strange call, you don’t see it called too often on the field,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “Sometimes it doesn’t get called and the other team takes it to review and then it goes from there, but it certainly was worth a challenge. We don’t want to take the bat away from Julio in that spot.”
France laid on the ground for several minutes after getting hit by May’s errant fastball earlier in the inning, and left the game after walking to first base. Initial x-rays said that France’s wrist was not fractured, but Servais said that he would likely miss at least the next couple of games as the team waits for swelling to go down.
Later in the inning, May also hit Seattle third baseman Eugenio Suarez in the back with a pitch.
“It’s a scary thing,” said May, a Kelso High School alum. “You don’t want to throw it by anyone’s face or anything. I don’t know (France) or Suarez personally, but I’ve played against them quite a bit. I know they’re good dudes … You don’t want anyone to have to miss any time because you’re not very sharp.”
Laureano and Carlos Pérez hit RBI singles in the first off Marco Gonzales (4-1). who allowed five hits in six innings with four strikeouts.
“I thought we had a good gameplan,” Gonzales said. “Just some weak contact, some kind of fluky stuff happening in the first, and after that I settled in. I felt like we just attacked guys and I had confidence in my stuff and got ahead. I thought we saw the results from that.”
Tom Murphy doubled off Luis Medina (0-3) with two outs in the fifth, and Crawford tied the score one batter later with his second homer of the season. France then drove a slider 420 feet into the left-field bullpen for his third home run.
Jesús Aguilar, Gonzales’ last batter, grounded into a double play that ended the sixth, starting a streak of 11 straight Oakland outs to end the game.
“(Gonzales) made an adjustment after that first inning and we weren’t able to make the adjustment back,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s a veteran pitcher and he’s out there for a reason.”
Trevor Gott, Justin Topa and Paul Sewald pitched one perfect inning each, completing a five-hitter. Sewald is now a perfect 10-for-10 in save chances this season.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: Oakland reinstated May (anxiety) from the 15-day IL, and optioned LHP Kyle Muller to Triple-A Las Vegas. Muller, the A’s opening night starter, was 1-4 with an 8.04 ERA in 10 starts.
UP NEXT
Athletics LHP Ken Waldichuk (1-3, 6.85) will start Wednesday. He has walked five or more in each of his past three outings. Mariners rookie RHP Bryce Miller (2-1, 1.42) debuted May 2 and has 22 strikeouts and two walks in his first four starts.
