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M's end misery with 4-3 win over A's

05:15 PM PDT on Sunday, September 28, 2008

Associated Press

SEATTLE - Ichiro Suzuki had two hits and scored the decisive run as the Seattle Mariners rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, ending a pair of forgettable seasons.

Suzuki finished the afternoon tied with Boston's Dustin Pedroia for the most hits in the major leagues at 213, pending the Red Sox hosting New York later Sunday. Suzuki was attempting to lead the majors in hits for the fifth time. Only Ty Cobb, Pete Rose, Stan Musial and Tony Gwynn have done that.

Suzuki finished the season batting .310, his 15th consecutive season above .300 in Japan and the major leagues.

Reloaded Seattle expected to win the AL West this season, or at least make the playoffs for the first time since 2001. Instead, the Mariners fired their manager and general manager, became the first team with a $100 million payroll to lose 100 games and endured their worst season (61-101) since losing 102 games in 1983.

The young A's (75-86) finished with their worst record since going 74-88 in 1998. They lost 44 of their last 68 games, after being just four games out of first place on July 11.

The Mariners cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 on RBI groundouts by Raul Ibanez in the first and rookie Matt Tuiasosopo in the second. They took the lead in the fifth with the help of Oakland's Josh Outman, who was making his fourth major league start.

Rookie Luis Valbuena chopped an infield single leading off, then Suzuki hit a comebacker that may have been a double play had Outman not thrown the ball wide of second base and into center field.

Yuniesky Betancourt lined his next pitch into the right-center gap. Center fielder Ryan Sweeney offered to cut off the ball then pulled his glove back, tricking right fielder Travis Buck and allowing the ball to reach the wall for a triple. Valbuena and Suzuki scored to put Seattle up 4-3.

Suzuki preserved the lead in the sixth with a strong throw home from right field on a single by Bobby Crosby, Oakland's third consecutive single. The throw kept Daric Barton at third. Reliever Randy Messenger stranded him there by retiring Jeff Baisley to end the inning.

J.J. Putz struck out the side in the ninth for his 15th save in 23 chances. He finished with 25 fewer saves than he had last season while becoming an All-Star.

R.A. Dickey (5-8) allowed three runs in the first inning, Buck's first leadoff home run of his career and a two-run double by Chris Denorfia. The knuckleballer later retired 12 in a row to get his first win as a starter since July 31. He allowed six hits, struck out two and walked one in 5 2-3 innings.

Outman (1-2) allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits in six innings.

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