Superhero in Seattle? Dylan Moore, Mariners face A's again

Don’t be surprised if Dylan Moore has a new nickname Saturday.

If his Seattle Mariners teammates get wind of Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay’s comments, Moore might be answering to the name Clark Kent.

After Moore went 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs in host Seattle’s 8-1 victory on Friday in the opener of a three-game series between the American League West rivals, Kotsay dropped a reference to Superman.

“Moore seems kind of kryptonite for us,” Kotsay said. “Every time he is in the lineup, it seems like we have trouble getting him out.”

The task of stopping Moore, who is filling in at shortstop for the injured J.P. Crawford (strained right oblique) apparently will fall Saturday on A’s right-hander Joey Estes, who is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas to make his first appearance of the season. Estes made two starts last September, including one against Seattle in which he allowed six runs (five earned) in 4 2/3 innings.

The Mariners are set to counter with right-hander Bryce Miller (3-2, 2.61), who is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in three previous starts versus Oakland.

Moore hit a two-run homer to cap a five-run fourth inning Friday. He also lined a two-run single to left in the fifth to make the score 7-0 and added a run-scoring single in the seventh to set a career-high for RBIs in a game.

Moore said playing every day has helped him at the plate.

“It’s just easier to be on time with the fastball. That’s pretty much number one, which is kind of like the basis of hitting, you could say. Try to be on time for the fastest pitch they throw,” Moore said. “Playing every day makes it easier when you’re seeing heaters every day.”

Manager Scott Servais said it was evident from the time the Mariners convened in February that Moore had changed his approach.

“I think Dylan Moore’s season really started in spring training and it starts by his swing decisions,” Servais said. “He swings at the right pitches. There used to be holes in his swing where you could attack him. He’s cleaned up a lot of that.”

After the Mariners had a streak of six consecutive series victories snapped this week in Minnesota, Friday’s victory was soothing.

“A great way to start the homestand,” Servais said. “It was really a complete game. We pitched well. We had guys on base and we got timely hits, really good night offensively.”

The Mariners got a scare when right-hander Bryan Woo, making his first start of the season after dealing with elbow inflammation, had to leave after 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

Servais said Woo tightened up when sitting on the bench during the Mariners‘ lengthy fourth-inning rally and should make his next start.

The A’s, who have lost five of their past six games, avoided the shutout on Lawrence Butler’s run-scoring, broken-bat grounder up the middle with two outs in the ninth inning. That came after one-out singles by Kyle McCann and Tyler Soderstrom.

“It’s always a positive to put some at-bats together in a game like that …” Kotsay said. “We pretty much got shut down offensively for eight of those innings.”

—Field Level Media