Mariners 6, Athletics 5, 10 innings

SEATTLE (AP) — Bucky Jacobsen got time to relax, then found just the pitch he wanted.

Feeling loose when he went back to the plate in the 10th inning after his at-bat in the ninth was interrupted by a pickoff play, Jacobsen homered on the first pitch of the inning to give Seattle a 6-5 win over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Jacobsen came to bat with Randy Winn at first after a leadoff single. But Justin Duchscherer picked Winn off first base to send it to extra innings.

”When I was up there the inning before, the crowd got behind me and it relaxed me,” Jacobsen said. ”When I got back to the dugout I kept telling myself to remember that feeling. I was a little bit numb, calm. I got up there the next inning and felt that if he was going groove one that I wasn't going to take it. He did, and I didn't.”

Jacobsen's 434-foot shot off Duchscherer (4-2) was his third homer in 21 at bats since joining the Mariners on July 15.

”It's been a whirlwind of unbelievable highs, and this is the high point,” Jacobsen said. ”I'm just enjoying this and I hope it never ends.”

Duchscherer has had tough luck against the Mariners. All four of his career losses have been against the them, including a 2-1 loss on April 19, in which he balked home a run in the 14th inning.

In the top half of the 10th, the A's put runners on second and third with one out. But Bobby Madritsch (1-0), making his major league debut, got Bobby Kielty to hit a sharp liner to third baseman Justin Leone, who tagged the base for a double play.

A month ago, Jacobsen, Madritsch and Leone were all teammates at Triple-A Tacoma, where Jacobsen hit .312 with 26 homers and 86 RBI.

”Of all the homers that I saw Bucky hit in Tacoma, this was his best one,” Madritsche said.

Jacobsen agreed.

”I've seen all of my homers and this is my favorite, too.”

The A's have lost six of their last seven road games and 19 of their last 26 away from home. They managed four homers against Mariners pitching, and erased a 5-3 Mariners lead in the eighth.

Eric Chavez led off the inning with a single against J.J. Putz. With one out, pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg drove a 3-1 pitch into the right-field seats to tie the game at 5.

Oakland also hit three solo homers off starter Travis Blackley.

Mark Kotsay homered on the game's first pitch and Bobby Crosby led off the second with his 13th homer to tie it at 2. Damian Miller went deep in the fourth.

Blackley allowed three runs on five hits in five innings, outpitching Barry Zito.

The Mariners hit a pair of home runs off Zito, including Bret Boone's two-run shot in the first. Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 4-2.

Ichiro Suzuki had four hits — three of them infield singles — and extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Suzuki doubled in the first and singled in the second, fourth, and sixth. During the streak, Suzuki is hitting .421. It was his third four-hit game of the season and 14th of his career.

Ichiro's speed led to a run in the fourth. Willie Bloomquist singled and then scored from first after Zito made a throwing error while attempting to get the hustling Suzuki at first. Zito's throw ended up down the right-field line.

Zito allowed nine hits and five runs over five innings.

”Just another in a long list of last at-bat losses,” A's manager Ken Macha said. ”We had guys in scoring position and hit the ball real hard and didn't get it done. Then, in the blink of an eye, the game is over.

Kotsay's leadoff homer was the fourth of his career and first since Sept. 22, 2002, against the Dodgers… Since 2000, in games after the All-Star Break, Oakland is 200-100 (.667) … Suzuki has four straight multihit games, going 12-for-19 during that run. It was his second consecutive four-hit game. … Leone is hitless in his last 16 at bats with seven strikeouts. In his first six games, Leone went 7-for-17 (.411).