SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Even in the midst of a minor slide, John Olerud finds ways to get the job done for the Seattle Mariners.
Olerud doubled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Mariners posted a 5-3 victory over the struggling Oakland Athletics, who lost their sixth straight game.
After Edgar Martinez led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a double off Micah Bowie (0-1), Olerud followed with his two-base hit into center field to snap a 3-3 tie. Mike Cameron reached on an infield hit and Carlos Guillen followed with a run-scoring single, giving the Mariners the final margin.
"I haven't been feeling real good up there so it was nice to get a couple hits tonight," said Olerud, who was 1-for-14 over his last five games entering Tuesday.
Olerud's hit helped make a winner out of Arthur Rhodes (1-0), who retired the only four batters he faced. Kazuhiro Sasaki struck out two for his third save and second in as many nights.
Mark Ellis and Eric Chavez hit solo homers for the A's, whose losing streak comes on the heels of a 7-1 start to the season. It is their longest losing streak since a seven-game slide from April 8-15, 2001.
The A's found themselves in an early hole in this one after Ted Lilly issued consecutive one-out walks to Randy Winn and Bret Boone in the bottom of the first. After a double steal, the red-hot Martinez came through with an RBI single.
Martinez, who has been slowed by a hamstring injury, is batting .448 (13-for-29) over his last eight games.
"You could probably wake him up on Christmas Day and he would probably get some hits," Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. "That's never an issue. Health is the only concern with Edgar. Everything else is pretty much a given."
Oakland tied it in the second on Mark Johnson's sacrifice fly, but Seattle took back the lead in the bottom of the inning.
Cameron led off the second with a single and stole second. After Lilly retired two straight batters, Ben Davis stroked an RBI single to give the Mariners a 2-1 lead. Lilly also gave up a single to Ichiro Suzuki but he got Winn to pop out to end the inning.
Lilly settled down after the second. Starting with Winn, the lefthander retired 10 straight batters until allowing a leadoff double to Boone in the sixth.
Chavez hit his second homer with two outs in the third, pulling the A's into a 2-2 tie. With two outs in the fifth, Ellis hit his second homer to give the A's the lead.
Mariners starter Ryan Franklin went 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits. The righthander walked two and struck out three
After giving up the double to Boone to start the bottom of the sixth, Lilly uncorked a wild pitch and Martinez came through with an RBI single, tying the game, 3-3. Olerud followed with a double but the Mariners squandered an opportunity to take the lead.
Lilly struck out Cameron and got Guillen to pop out to second before being replaced by Jeremy Fikac, who walked Jeff Cirillo. Ricardo Rincon came on and retired Ben Davis on a popup to second base to end the inning.
Lilly gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out 10, one shy of his career high.
"Early in the game I came out throwing a lot of offspeed stuff and I didn't establish my fastball," Lilly said. "I was mostly using three or four pitches. I wasn't relying on one or two (for strikeouts). When I am doing that and getting ahead in the count, the game is a lot easier."
