Haniger's homer helps M's beat A's 4-2, close in wild card

SEATTLE (AP) — Mitch Haniger hit his 100th home run and third in two games, and the Seattle Mariners pulled within a half-game of the second AL wild card berth by beating the Oakland Athletics 4-2 on Tuesday night.

Tyler Anderson pitched four innings on two days' rest for the Mariners, who won their team-record 11th straight game over Oakland. Seattle, 18 games over .500 for the first time since August 2018, has won four in a row and nine of 10.

Haniger hit his third homer of the series into the left-field bullpen in the seventh inning after hitting two nearly identical three-run shots in Monday’s 13-4 win. His 38 homers and 95 RBIs are career highs, coming after he missed much of 2019 and all of 2020 due to two operations.

“I got a little emotional,” Haniger said, tearing up with reporters. “It took so much time to come back. ... A lot of missed time, a lot of pain, not really being able to walk for a little bit, and kind of being pretty much broken, and being able to come back, it’s been fun.”

Seattle (88-70) is just behind Boston (88-69) and just ahead of Toronto (87-70) in the wild card race, trailing the New York Yankees (90-67). The Mariners finish their series against the A's on Wednesday, then host the Los Angeles Angels for their final three games of the regular season.

Seattle would be eliminated from the AL West race with one more loss or one win by first-place Houston (92-65).

Oakland (85-73) is 3 1/2 games back of the Red Sox and in must-win territory.

“Look, we've played what, 15 games in a row here?” A's manager Bob Melvin said. “Our bullpen's a little bit shot, but we need to come out and win a game tomorrow and make everybody feel a lot better about the way things have gone with them.”

Anderson was on a pitch limit, and Mariners manager Scott Servais...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Haniger-s-homer-helps-M-s-beat-A-s-4-2-close-in-16495248.php