OAKLAND If the A's first win of 2013 required a title, it would definitely be "Night of the Newbies," at least at the plate.
After a hushed offensive start in their first two games at O.co Coliseum (6 for 60, .100), Oakland finally broke out with the bats, but only one of the runs driven home in a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night was by a player who was with the A's last season.
Shortstop Jed Lowrie drove in three runs with a tiebreaking two-run double in the fourth inning and a solo homer in the seventh. But the A's also got an RBI single from Nate Freiman in his first major-league at-bat as well as a solo homer from outfielder Chris Young in his first start, immediately following Lowrie's blast in the seventh.
That was more than enough offense for Tommy Milone (1-0), whose first start of the year began uncharacteristically rocky two first-inning home runs in a home park where he allowed just six all of last year but ended with more familiar mastery. Milone pitched seven innings and retired 17 of 18 starting in the second inning, including the last 10 batters he faced.
If all that wasn't enough to get a crowd of 15,162 buzzing, second baseman Scott Sizemore, playing in his first game since Sept. 28, 2011, doubled in his first at-bat. Sizemore missed all of last season with a torn ACL in his left knee, suffered during his first 2012 spring training workout.
But nobody was more of a newbie in this game than the 6-foot-8 first baseman Freiman, a Rule 5 pick acquired on waivers little more than a week ago from Houston.
In his first at-bat in the second inning against Seattle veteran left-hander Joe Saunders (0-1), Freiman lined a sharp single up the middle to bring home Josh Donaldson, who had doubled to lead off the inning, for Oakland's first run.
Yoenis Cespedes tied the score 2-2 with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the third, and Lowrie put the A's ahead with a two-run double to left-center with Josh Reddick and Coco Crisp aboard.
The Mariners got off to a quick start with first-inning solo homers by Franklin Gutierrez and Michael Morse, the latter's third in two days.
Milone allowed four hits and one walk and struck out four. Sean Doolittle and Chris Resop pitched an inning apiece to finish things off.
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