SEATTLE -- Mark McLemore has played too many games and had too much success to get discouraged by one error.
McLemore atoned for his game-tying error in the ninth inning with a two-out RBI single in the 10th, giving the Seattle Mariners a 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.
"It was right in the middle of my glove and it didn't stay," he said. "Fortunately, I got enough of it off the end of the bat and it had a funny spin on it."
Seattle took three of four from the A's, who have lost seven of eight following a 7-1 start.
With two outs in the 10th, Mike Cameron walked and stole second. Jeremy Fikac (0-1) walked Carlos Guillen before McLemore blooped his single to left on a 3-1 pitch to score the speedy Cameron.
The 38-year-old McLemore said none of his teammates had to say anything to him in the dugout after his error.
"Everybody knows I should have made the play," he said. "I make that play 101 times out of a hundred."
Cameron said McLemore's confidence is outrageously high.
"To be honest with you, it doesn't matter," he said. "The guy's been playing so long. It was a physical mistake that happened to him. It's all part of the game. It's just how you go about it in your mind."
Fikac blamed himself for the loss.
"It was a good pitch, but still I just can't go 3-1 to him," he said.
Jeff Nelson (2-0) worked a scoreless inning to earn the win.
Oakland rallied from a 3-1 deficit against closer Kazuhiro Sasaki in the ninth, tying it on an error by McLemore at third base.
Eric Chavez led off the inning with his third homer in three days. All four of his home runs this season have come against the Mariners.
Jermaine Dye singled and Eric Brynes entered as a pinch-runner before Erubiel Durazo walked and Ramon Hernandez sacrificed the runners to second and third. Sasaki walked Chris Singleton intentionally to load the bases.
Pinch-hitter Mark Ellis struck out and Terrence Long hit a grounder to McLemore, who booted it for an error that allowed Byrnes to score the tying run.
Chavez, who had 34 home runs last season, hit a splitter from Sasaki, his out pitch.
"He threw me two splits that were hittable," Chavez said. "The one I hit was a good pitch over the plate and I didn't miss it."
It was Sasaki's second blown save in five opportunities, both against Oakland. Scott Hatteberg flied out to end the inning.
"You get closers in games and that's going to happen," Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. "Mariano Rivera, anybody. So we don't sit here and feel bad about Kaz because he blew a save."
Sasaki, 35, had bone chips removed from his right elbow after last season and had a sore shoulder this spring.
Seattle starter Gil Meche allowed just an unearned run over six innings in his second consecutive strong outing. Before beating Texas 13-4 Saturday, Meche hadn't won in the majors since June 2, 2000.
The Mariners took a 1-0 lead in the first on Edgar Martinez's RBI single and Dan Wilson added a two-run single in the fourth.
The A's scored an unearned run in the fifth after Guillen's overthrow of first from shortstop on Durazo's infield single. Hernandez singled Durazo to third and he scored on Frank Menechino's sacrifice fly.
Former Mariners pitcher John Halama started for the A's and lasted 4 1/3 innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits and four walks.
Durazo was 3-for-3 with three singles.
Martinez, who returned to the lineup last Sunday after missing a week with a strained left hamstring, had a good series. He was 5-for-13 with two walks and four RBI.
Meche allowed four hits and walked none, striking out five.
Meche was watching on TV from the locker room when Chavez hit his 419-foot home run off Sasaki. Meche got Chavez out three times before he left the game, including a strikeout.
"He's a guy who's going to hurt a lot of pitchers in this league," Meche said. "He's a great hitter."
Notes
- Mariners 3B Jeff Cirillo left after the fifth inning because of a strain in his right side. He was replaced by McLemore. Cirillo said he was injured trying to field Durazo's infield hit in the fifth. Melvin compared Cirillo's injury to the strained oblique muscle on Wilson's left side during spring training that forced Wilson to start the season on the disabled list. "We're going to have to see how he is tomorrow," Melvin said. "That's one you've got to evaluate the next day. We think he pulled the same thing that Dan had. I'm not holding out a lot of hope." Cirillo didn't think he was hurt seriously. "I don't think it's that bad," he said.
- Oakland outhomered Seattle 6-1 in the series.
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