Through five innings Sunday at Safeco Field, Andrew Albers was completely baffling the hitters on the Oakland Athletics.
Although his bid at a no-hitter came to an end at the start of the sixth inning when he gave up a solo home run to Matt Olson, it didn’t dampen the best start of the season for the North Battleford left-hander as he helped the Seattle Mariners to a 10-2 win over their American League West Division rivals.
“I wasn’t going to finish the game, but you know what’s going on,” Albers said of his no-hit bid. “I give up a lot of hits, so I usually don’t get that far into a game where I haven’t given up a hit yet.
“I wouldn’t have liked to give it up the way I did, but at the same time you’re in the sixth inning. It was a 3-0 game and I feel the worst thing that I could do there was walk a guy, so I’m going to continue to attack.”
That blemish in the sixth inning was the only hit that the 31-year-old allowed in six innings of work as he struck out five batters and walked one while throwing 101 pitches.
“He doesn’t throw very hard but his fastball plays up and he pounds the zone with it,” Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman said. “Obviously, it kept us off-balance.”
Albers now has a 3-1 record for the season with a 3.31 earned run average.
The Mariners, who have won their last three games, now have a 69-68 record and are 2.5 games back of the Minnesota Twins for the second and final Wild Card spot in the American League.
Albers’ next start is tentatively scheduled for Saturday when the Mariners will host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
