Doug Fister and the Seattle Mariners defeated Vin Mazarro of the Oakland Athletics on Monday night, giving interim manager Daren Brown his first victory in his first game in charge. The Mariners jumped all over Mazarro in the 1st inning, staking Fister to a 2-0 lead he wouldn’t relinquish, the bats on both sides going quiet thereafter.
On most days, a first major league victory would be the big news, but one play upstaged the rest of the day’s events: An around the horn 5-4-3 triple play in the 4th inning, the first in Safeco Field history, and the first turned by the Mariners in more than 15 years. Mark Ellis looked safe at first base, but in a dark year for Mariners fans, nobody will be complaining.