It looks like Matt Holliday has finally found his swing.
Too bad for the A's none of that mattered Friday night in Seattle as the pitching staff squandered a five run lead, losing the game on a Jose Lopez walkoff single in the ninth inning.
The A's lineup gave starter Dana Eveland a nice 6-1 lead to work with, but the lefty ran into trouble in the fifth, when the Mariners got a pair of two-run homers from Russell Branyan and Franklin Gutierrez. The result: Eveland was lifted from the game and Seattle moved into a one-run lead.
Enter Holliday.
The A's slugger hit his first homerun of the season Thursday in Texas, and in the top of the seventh doubled his season total with one swing of the bat. Holliday's solo shot tied the game at seven, and gave the visitors new hope. But he couldn't control the pitching.
With the score knotted at 7-7 in the bottom of the ninth, reliever Russ Springer loaded the bases for Jose Lopez. The pair battled in a 14 pitch at-bat that was eventually won by Lopez, who singled in the winning run, as the Mariners beat the A's, 8-7.
But let's focus on the "glass is half full" approach. Holliday was 2-5 with a pair of RBI and two runs scored, raising his average to .250. Call it the win within the loss.
