Martin's walk-off home run stuns A's

SEATTLE -- Down to his last strike with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Mariners center fielder Leonys Martin blasted a two-run walkoff home run off A's closer Ryan Madson as Seattle snapped out of its Safeco Field funk with a 6-5 win on Tuesday night.
Robinson Cano drove in three runs with a home run and double and Martin supplied the final punch as the Mariners overcame a 5-2 deficit to snap a four-game home losing streak.
Coco Crisp matched Cano with three RBIs on a home run and double of his own, but the A's couldn't close the deal as Martin hit Seattle's third walkoff blast of the season after Norichika Aoki's two-out bloop double down the left-field line.
"Oh my gosh, it's an amazing feeling," Martin said. "For me, this is the best feeling in baseball."
"We had a lead with our three best guys coming into the game," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "[John] Axford gave up a couple and Madson gave up a couple. It's going to happen sometimes." More >
The Mariners, who had lost four straight to the A's at Safeco this season, maintain a 1 1/2 game lead over Texas in the AL West at 27-18 as they improved to 9-11 at home.
Cano hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Axford to cut the margin to 5-4. Cano also hit an RBI double in the first and Nelson Cruz gave Seattle a 2-1 lead with a run-scoring single in the third, but Oakland stormed back with four runs on five hits in the sixth to take a 5-2 lead. Martin took care of the rest in the ninth. More >

Melvin pulled starter Kendall Graveman after 4 1/3  innings, with the right-hander allowing seven hits and two runs. Graveman (1-6, 5.36 ERA) trailed 2-1 at the time and wound up with a no-decision to snap a string of five straight losses.
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Cano keeps cranking: The Mariners second baseman ripped a double to the base of the wall in left center in the first inning, scoring Seth Smith from first base, before adding his two-run blast in the eighth for his 13th homer of the year. Cano has reached base in 23 consecutive games, the fourth-longest active streak in the Majors. His 42 RBIs lead the Majors, one ahead of Boston's David Ortiz. In 45 games, Cano already has more than half as many RBIs as he totaled all last season when he drove in 79 in in 156 contests.

A's strike in big sixth: Oakland's hitters faced three different Mariners pitchers and did damage against them all in a four-run sixth inning that gave them a 5-2 lead. Stephen Vogt and Danny Valencia started it off by singling in succession to chase Nathan Karns, and Khris Davis greeted reliever Nick Vincent with a sacrifice fly that tied the score at 2-2. Then Yonder Alonso singled, Marcus Semien doubled in a run, and three batters later, Crisp doubled in two runs off Mike Montgomery.
"He's playing great," Melvin said of Crisp. "We know when he's healthy and running around well and feels good, he's a productive guy. And he is right now. He's healthy enough to play every day at this point."

Montgomery mows 'em down: Converted starter Montgomery continued to shine in his relief role for the Mariners as he picked up the win in a gritty finish. Although the lanky lefty gave up Crisp's go-ahead double upon entering in the sixth, he wound up shutting the door after that with 3 1/3 scoreless innings on just two hits with four strikeouts, including striking out the side in the eighth. Montgomery now has a 1.67 ERA with 28 strikeouts and just two walks in 27 innings over 17 appearances.
"Unbelievable win. That was incredible," Montgomery said. "After I came in and gave up the double, I really wasn't in a great rhythm. I fell behind 3-0 [to Crisp] and had to give him a pitch and he hit it good. At that point, I was hey, shut it down and let the offense come back and sure enough, we did."
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"That's some kind of come-from-behind win. That speaks a lot to the character of our club. All I can say is wow. We just don't quit. There were a lot of heroes in tonight's game. We just keep fighting and we've got something good going on in the clubhouse. It's a lot of fun." -- Mariners manager Scott Servais. .
"The pitches weren't where they needed to be, they obviously found barrels and found spots over the fence and on the fence." --Axford, on his eighth-inning woes.
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Aoki was thrown out trying to steal second by Vogt in the second inning and is just 2-for-9 in stolen base attempts on the year. The 34-year-old had been successful on 81-of-114 attempts in his previous four MLB seasons.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Servais successfully challenged an out call at first base on a double-play grounder by Aoki in the second inning. The A's turned an apparent 3-6-3 twin killing, but replay showed Aoki getting to the first-base bag before Semien's return throw to first baseman Alonso. Aoki was thrown out trying to steal second moments later to end the inning.

WHAT'S NEXT
A's: Right-hander Zach Neal (0-0, 9.00 ERA) will make his first Major League start on Wednesday night. Neal, who appeared in a three-inning relief stint in Boston on May 11, will take the place of injured ace Sonny Gray for now. Neal, 28, went 5-1 with a 2.53 ERA so far this year for Triple-A Nashville.
Mariners:Hisashi Iwakuma (2-4, 4.39 ERA) will be looking for his second straight win in Wednesday's 7:10 p.m. series finale after topping the Reds on three runs over six frames in his last outing. His other win came against the A's on May 3 (one run and four hits in seven innings) and he's 6-5, 3.38 ERA in 12 career games vs. Oakland.
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