Segura's aggressiveness pays off for Mariners

OAKLAND -- Mariners third-base coach Scott Brosius had second thoughts about waving Jean Segura home with the game tied in the 10th inning. It didn't matter, because Segura wasn't paying attention anyway.
Segura scored the go-ahead run from first base on Guillermo Heredia's one-out double, as the Mariners beat the A's, 3-2, in Tuesday night's series opener.
It was a big win for manager Scott Servais' club on a day it placed leadoff hitter Dee Gordon on the disabled list with a fractured right big toe and lost right fielder Mitch Haniger to a bruised right wrist after he was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning.
"Really proud of our group," Servais said. "The guys are fighting, clawing and finding a way to hang in there."
After Gordon Beckham struck out looking, Segura singled, then raced around to score when Heredia lined a 1-2 pitch into the right-center-field gap.
A's rookie center fielder Dustin Fowler retrieved the ball, bobbled it briefly, then threw it into the infield. Segura slid headfirst into home to beat the relay throw, appearing to jam his left shoulder on the leg of A's catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
"When it was first hit, I thought it was going to be a stretch," Brosius said. "I think the bobble kind of opened the door a little bit for me to think that we could get him. I kind of knew it was going to be a bang-bang play, but we've got a good runner on the bases, a wet baseball, so I just figured it was worth taking a shot at that point."
Segura said he didn't even notice Brosius.
"My mind was trying to score," Segura said. "I didn't even look at Brosius. I knew it was a good opportunity to score at that time."
Segura questioned Lucroy's defense on the play, which left him laying on the dirt behind home plate while a team trainer checked him.
"When I turned third base to go to home plate, I saw his foot right on home plate before he got to the baseball," Segura said. "I know he's trying to do the best he can to get me out, but at the same point, you have the plate blocked. He didn't even have the ball. As a catcher, you know you don't have any chance to get people out at home plate. I think you can't do that. You can't block the plate like that."
Lucroy acknowledged that he might have been in the way.
"I didn't really know where I was. I think I got in his way a little bit," Lucroy said. "I put my foot in front of the plate. I think it would have been an interference call anyway. I think he would have been safe any way, shape or form, so I don't think we had a chance of getting him out there no matter what."

After being held scoreless through six innings, Mike Zunino hit a game-tying two-run homer in the seventh. Daniel Vogelbach, called up from Triple-A Tacoma to replace Gordon on the roster, drew a one-out walk against A's starter Trevor Cahill before Zunino lined a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall for a 384-foot home run. The homer had an exit velocity of 111 mph with a launch angle of 20 degrees, per Statcast™.
Seattle got a lift from its bullpen, as three relievers combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings, with Edwin Díaz working a perfect 10th for his 16th save.

MOMENT THAT MATTERED
Got out of it: With the score tied at 2, the A's had a runner on second with two outs in the eighth, after Matt Olson hit a sharp grounder off reliever James Pazos that got past Segura at shortstop and rolled to the wall, where left fielder Ben Gamel slipped and fell as the play resulted in a double. Nick Vincent replaced Pazos and got Matt Chapman to fly out to the warning track on his first pitch.
YOU'RE GONE
Servais was ejected after Gamel was called out on strikes on a high curveball from A's closer Blake Treinen to end the top of the ninth, Seattle's sixth strikeout over a seven-batter stretch. It was Servais' second ejection in eight days. He was also tossed against Texas on May 15.

UP NEXT
Left-hander Marco Gonzales faces the A's for the second time this season on Wednesday at the Coliseum at 7:05 p.m. PT, as he looks for his first win in more than three weeks. Gonzales allowed four runs in 3 1/3 innings against Oakland on April 14, but he had an effective outing against Detroit last time out. Daniel Gossett will start for the A's.