Raleigh and Garver help the Mariners win 2-0 against the Athletics | AM 870 The ANSWER

SEATTLE (AP) — Cal Raleigh hit his 32nd home run, Bryan Woo struck out eight in five innings and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 2-0 on Friday night.

Mitch Garver also scored for the Mariners, a day after Seattle was eliminated from postseason contention. Oakland also had an emotional day after playing its last scheduled home game at the Coliseum, a 3-2 win over Texas.

Woo (9-3) allowed just three hits and one walk.

“It’s been kind of a weird 24 hours,” Woo said. “I know you're no longer there, but you still want to finish strong. For yourself, for the team, for the fans, for everyone. Everyone else deserves this from you and so you have to find it within yourself to give everything you have.”

He has 101 strikeouts in 121 1/3 innings this season. This was the seventh time in his 22 starts that he didn't allow a run.

“He had five really strong players today,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “What an incredible season for another one of our young starters. I thought he had a great year and threw the ball well tonight.”

Oakland starter JP Sears (11-13) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings.

The Mariners opened the final three-game series of the season after their playoff hopes officially ended on a bad day when the Royals and Tigers both won and eliminated Seattle from wild-card contention.

The Mariners led the AL West by 10 games in June before hitting a skid and seeing the division lead evaporate within a month. A late surge gave Seattle a slight postseason hope that was finally extinguished on Thursday.

Still, the 41,429 crowd was relatively optimistic, especially when Garver gave Seattle a 1-0 lead with his 15th home run in the second inning.

Raleigh added another run in the third inning with his home run to center field. Raleigh leads major league catchers with 32 home runs.

“Garv really did it, Cal really did it,” Wilson said. “Those were big hits and gave us what we needed tonight. Our pitching was really, really strong.”

Mariners relievers Gabe Speier, Gregory Santos, Tayler Saucedo and Troy Taylor each pitched an inning in Seattle's 15th shutout of the season, with Taylor earning his first career save.

“This is a big deal for him,” Wilson said. “He was given some higher impact situations and he was able to handle them. You have to love that even as a small child. He’s someone who really wants the ball in these situations and that’s a good sign.”

TRAINER ROOM

The A's reinstated RHP Ross Stripling from the IL before the game. Stripling had been on 15 days of IL since 9/11 due to a lower back strain. Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said Stripling would come out of the bullpen at some point in the series.

NEXT

Seatle will call up RHP Emerson Hancock (4-4, 4.72 ERA) from Triple-A to start Saturday against Oakland. Hancock has made 11 starts for Seattle this season, most recently on Sept. 21 against Texas. The Athletics should start RHP Joey Estes (7-9, 4.99 ERA).

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