Mariners blanked in finale
SEATTLE (AP) - Gio Gonzalez closed the season with a flourish as the Oakland lefty allowed just two hits in eight innings to help the Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 2-0 on Wednesday nigh.t
Gonzalez (16-12) gave up just one hit through six innings, a liner into right field by Chris Gimenez leading off the third inning. After following with a walk to Ichiro Suzuki, Gonzalez retired 11 of the next 12 batters. He struck out the side in the sixth and finished with a career-high tying 11 strikeouts.
Jai Miller homered to right-center field in the second inning off Seattle starter Anthony Vasquez (1-6) who lasted just two innings. Seattle finished year with a team-record 16 shutouts this season. It was the first homer of Miller's career.
The Mariners and A's will see each other again on March 28 and 29 in Tokyo as they will become the latest teams to open a season playing in Japan. The announcement of the two-game series was made on Wednesday.
Gonzalez could be starting one of those games for the A's after finishing 2011 on a roll. He won his final four starts and seven of his final eight to top the 15 wins he had in his rookie season of 2010.
Gonzalez tied a career-high in strikeouts set last year against the Chicago White Sox and walked three batters. He had at least one strikeout in six of his eight innings and finished the season with a 3.12 ERA in 32 starts.
Andrew Bailey pitched the ninth for his 24th save in 26 chances.
Seattle's Alex Liddi doubled with two outs in the seventh on a shot to left-center field that Coco Crisp nearly made a diving backhanded catch. But Gonzalez got Kyle Seager to ground out to end the inning. It was one of just a handful of threats the offensively challenged Mariners made, three times getting a runner to second base and failing to advance them further.
The Mariners finished the season with consecutive shutouts and didn't score after the seventh inning on Monday night.
It fit with Seattle's season-long struggles at the plate. Suzuki ended his year with 184 hits after going hitless in the finale. It's the first time in his 11-year career Suzuki failed to reach 200 hits and he ended the season with a career-low .272 batting average.
Vasquez was one of six Seattle pitchers to see the mound for the finale. After Vasquez, Seattle's bullpen combined to give up just three hits and no runs over the final seven innings.