OAKLAND, Calif. -- Marcus Semien is having a lot of success since being moved up in the Oakland Athletics batting order.Then again, the young shortstop has been doing well just about anywhere manager Bob Melvin pencils him in the lineup.Semien matched his career-high with four hits and sparked two big innings while batting second for the third consecutive game, and the As beat Seattle 6-3 on Friday night to end the Mariners six-game winning streak.It felt great, Semien said. Thats the goal every night. Its not going to happen every night but you work hard every day in the cage and BP to do that.Semien began the year batting ninth in the As lineup but an injury to Jed Lowrie opened a spot near the top of the order. For the last three weeks, Melvin has used Semien more and more to fill that hole.Its worked out well, too. Over his last eight games Semien is batting .400.He can hit anywhere in the lineup, Melvin said. This the first time hes had any significant time in the two hole against righties. One of the reasons is Jed (Lowrie) is out ... but you cant ignore 23 home runs and second on our team in RBI.Yonder Alonso hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the sixth inning off rookie Joe Wieland, Khris Davis added his career-high 28th home run and Stephen Vogt had an RBI double and scored twice to help the As to their fourth win in five games.Sean Manaea fought early command issues and allowed three runs over six innings for his first win since June 29. Manaea (4-7) gave up three hits, walked three and struck out four.Kyle Seager homered and Shawn OMalley added two hits for the Mariners.Seattle had won seven straight at the Coliseum, including a three-game sweep in May, before going cold offensively in its return.The Mariners hit into inning-ending double plays in the first, second and third innings and failed to score after Manaea walked the leadoff batter each time.We didnt do a whole lot offensively, Seattle manager Scott Servais said. It was like groundhog day: double play, double play, double play the first three innings.Ryan Madson retired three batters for his 25th save.Oakland broke the game open in the sixth with five consecutive singles, including Alonsos tiebreaker.Alonso, who also singled in the eighth, is hitting .361 over his last 11 games.Wieland (0-1), acquired from the Dodgers in the offseason, allowed six runs and nine hits with three strikeouts in his Mariners debut.GOING OPPODavis, the only batter on Oaklands roster who had faced Wieland, lined an opposite field, two-run homer in the first that had the As players and coaches buzzing long after the game ended. Guys just dont do that, Melvin said. His opposite field power is similar to a guy like (Detroits Miguel) Cabrera. You just dont see that from guys like that.TRAINERS ROOMMariners: Steve Cishek (torn left hip labrum) is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon but Servais said Cishek wont be coming back as the teams closer when he returns to the big league club. Edwin Diaz, who has converted all five save opportunities since taking over as closer, will remain in that role. ... James Paxton, who was hit in the elbow by a line drive Aug. 7, is still sore but Servais is hopeful to have the lefty back in the rotation early next week. ... OF Daniel Robertson was designated for assignment.Athletics: Sean Doolittle threw off a mound and faced hitters, an encouraging sign for the teams former closer who has been on the DL with a strained left elbow since June 26. ... RHP Jesse Hahn (strained right shoulder) will throw a bullpen session Saturday. ... Patrick Schuster was claimed off waivers by Philadelphia. Schuster was designated for assignment on Wednesday.UP NEXTMariners: RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (13-7) makes his 13th career start against the As on Saturday night. Iwakuma has 12 wins over his last 15 starts.Athletics: RHP Kendall Graveman (8-7) will face Seattle for the third time this season. Graveman is 7-1 over his past 13 starts. Cheap NBA Throwback JerseysDiscount NHL Throwback Jerseys . On Mar. 16, coming off a "fight of the year" performance at UFC 154 the previous November, St-Pierre faced Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in what would be his eighth defence of the welterweight title. Using his superior athleticism, St-Pierre cruised to a five round, unanimous decision victory setting up a much-anticipated title defence against number one contender Johny Hendricks. http://www.cheapretrojerseys.com/ . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Authentic MLB Throwback Jerseys . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Cheap Retro Soccer Jerseys . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. TORONTO -- Scott Dixon used a fast final lap to snatch the pole away from Helio Castroneves at the buzzer in qualifying Saturday for Indy Toronto.Dixon turned a lap of 59.9073 seconds to win the pole for the race Sunday. It is his 24th career pole and first since Mid-Ohio last year. Castroneves wound up second with a lap of 59.9425 on the temporary street course at Exhibition Place.Whenever you can start on the pole, especially on the street courses, its a big help, said Dixon, who squeezed in his final lap.I was just trying to get the most out of it, man. Each lap just kept getting a bit better. Its not what we planned on; we just planned to do three laps. We luckily had a little bit more gas in the car to do a fourth. Worked out nicely for a change.The pole moved Dixon ahead of Johnny Rutherford for 12th on the career poles list. Dixon is one pole victory behind Toronto native Paul Tracy.Castroneves thought he had the pole until Dixons final lap flier.What can I say? he asked before praising Dixon and his Chip Ganassi Racing team. Ganassi is not a rookie team. Theyre champions. They know what theyre doing. Good job by Scott.IndyCar Series points leader Simon Pagenaud qualified third and Will Power was fourth as Team Penske took the three spots behind Dixon.Sebastien Bourdais qualified fifth, while Toronto native James Hinchcliffe was sixth to earn his best career start in his home race.Its really tough to win races from outside the top 10 in this series, especially at a track like this, Hinchcliffe said. Theres good opportunities for some passes here. The guys in front of us have pretty solid pace. Were going to have to find a little bit in ourselves over the course of the evening and warm-up, [but] definitely were in as good a position here this weekend as weve ever been here.Hinchcliffe was the highest qualifying Honda driver as Chevrolet teams took the top five spots.It was a rough qualifying session for the quartet from Andretti Autosport. Carlos Munoz qualified a team-best 15th, Ryan Hunter-Reay was 18th, Alexander Rossi was 19th and Marco Andretti was 22nd -- last in the field.ddddddddddddWhat were missing is overall grip and compliance. Thats so important on a track like this, Hunter-Reay said. Were not even on the same planet as the front-runners when it comes to grip. Were fighting the car. Really swatting at flies.Rossi called the qualifying effort abysmal and noted how challenging it will be for the Andretti drivers to salvage the weekend.As a team we have to work on it, because we shouldnt be here, said Hunter-Reay. Its really unfortunate. Its not fun at the moment.Rahal added, I [went for it] and we hit the fence. The car is still ill-handling. I told the guys it was going to take a magic lap to advance; I knew it. Our basic balance, all weekend, weve been killing the rear tires, cant put power down at all. I went for it and the sucker went straight and we just tagged the wall.Conor Daly qualified a career-best seventh and just missed advancing into the final round of six.Everyone is so good in this series, he said. Its just cool to be in that group and kind of fighting for those positions.Josef Newgarden, the defending race winner, was eighth. He led all but 18 laps last week and won at Iowa, moving to second in the IndyCar standings behind Pagenaud.Im always optimistic. Theres always something that can happen in the race, Newgarden said. This is our best session; qualifying is the highest weve been this weekend. You hate to say eighth is the best weve been this weekend, but Ive always got faith we can figure it out. Thats what happens when you get to racetracks, you try to solve the puzzle.Were going to have to figure it out, man, were the defending champs. Well see what we can do.On Saturday morning, IndyCar altered the course so the wall in Turn 8 is now the same as the configuration used in previous years. The change provides an additional 6 feet on the inside of the track, and concrete patches in Turns 1 and 9 were worked on to provide more consistent grip. ' ' '