Chris Bassitt looks strong in return from surgery, but Mariners rally to beat A's

OAKLAND, Calif. --Chris Bassitt pitched three scoreless innings less than a month after surgery to repair facial fractures, but the Seattle Mariners rallied against Oakland's bullpen for a 6-5 victory Thursday and a four-game sweep that damaged the Athletics' wild-card hopes.

Bassitt, a 32-year-old right-hander, was struck by a 100 mph line drive off the bat of Brian Goodwin of the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 17 and had surgery seven days later on three fractures.

He took the field to a standing ovation from the crowd of 4,966 and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings --J.P. Crawford's leadoff single -- struck out four and walked one.

"I am very blessed and thankful for the circle that I have made in baseball," Bassitt said. "When things happen like that, you really find out who's with you and I'm beyond blessed to have the people that I have with me."

Oakland led 3-0 when Abraham Toro hit an RBI double in the fourth. Sean Murphy boosted the lead with a home run in the bottom half, but Cal Raleigh cut the deficit to 4-3 with a two-run homer in the fifth.Mitch Haniger's 35th homer tied the score in the sixth, and Luis Torrens followed with a go-ahead, two-run homer off Jake Diekman (3-3).

Oakland has now lost its season-worst sixth straight home game to fall four games back of the New York Yankees for the second AL wild-card spot.

"I'm proud of this group, even though we've absolutely sucked the last month," Bassitt said. "We haven't done a good enough job to win games."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.