A's fall into first place tie after loss to M's

ByABC News
March 28, 2001, 3:06 PM

— -- OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Had it not been for a crazy bounce,Ichiro Suzuki would have added another hit to his astonishingtotal.

Suzuki had two hits to move within three of tying the seasonrecord, and the Seattle Mariners pounded Oakland starter Tim Hudsonin a 7-2 victory Tuesday night that dropped the Athletics into afirst-place tie with Anaheim. The Angels won 8-2 at Texas.

In his second at-bat, Suzuki hit a sharp liner that went offHudson's back and bounced in front of shortstop Bobby Crosby, whohad to make a tough play to get Suzuki at first. Had Hudson notgotten in the way, it would've been a line drive up the middle.

"Of course when that ball hit Hudson, he acted like it didn'teven hit him. He didn't show any pain," Suzuki said. "Even thoughhe's the enemy, he's a great pitcher and someone I really like."

Oakland dropped out of sole possession of first place for thefirst time in 54 days, since the team was a half-game behind Texason Aug. 5.

Bret Boone hit a two-run homer and Jeremy Reed had a doubleamong his three hits and also drove in a run. Gil Meche (7-6) wonhis third straight decision to beat the A's for the first time innine career starts.

Greg Dobbs added two hits and two RBI for Seattle (61-96),trying to avoid the club's first 100-loss season since 1983. TheA's have lost six of eight.

"Once we figure out how to pitch to Reed and Dobbs, we'll be ingood shape," Hudson said. "We're not supermen out there. Allthose darn September callups, that's our kryptonite, I guess. Fivegames left and we're all knotted up. We need to win three of fiveand they need to lose three of five."

Suzuki led off the game with a double to right-center, thensingled to start the fifth. He finished 2-for-5 and needs four hitsin Seattle's final five games to break George Sisler's 84-year-oldrecord of 257 hits in a season.

"Five games left and it's been a good season for me. I hope Idon't regret anything and go out there and finish it off," Suzukisaid.

The A's issued 140 credentials to visiting media for thisfour-game series --