WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Lawrence Butler hit a two-run drive off Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning for his second home run of the game as the Athletics overcame a four-run deficit and beat Seattle 8-7 Sunday, leaving the Mariners five games back in the AL West with 12 to play.
The A’s took five of seven from Seattle in an 11-day span, including a win Friday on Donovan Walton’s 10th-inning homer. The Mariners fell six games behind for the last AL wild card.
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Seattle Mariners' Randy Arozarena, right, jokes with Lazaro Montes (99) after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Seattle Mariners' Randy Arozarena runs the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Athletics' Lawrence Butler reacts after being hit by a pitch while at-bat during the third inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Athletics' Lawrence Butler runs the bases after after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Butler had four RBIs and finished with 13 against Seattle this season.
Randy Arozarena homered twice and had four RBIs for the Mariners, who led 6-2 before the A’s tied the score in a four-run seventh. Gabe Speier walked Jhonny Pereda with the bases loaded, Butler hit an RBI groundout and pinch-hitter Shea Langeliers had a two-run single against Seranthony Domínguez.
Arozarena, who has 25 homers, connected off Hogan Harris for a 7-6 lead in the eighth. He hit a two-run homer in the third and an RBI single in the fourth as part of his second straight four-RBI game.
Trying for his first five-out save since 2024, Muñoz (5-6) blew a save for the 10th time in 37 chances.
Muñoz stranded a runner at third base in the eighth, then allowed Zack Gelof’s leading single in the ninth. Butler followed with his 16th homer.
Elvis Alvarado (5-3) pitched a one-hit ninth.
Gelof and Butler homered on consecutive pitches in the first off Bryce Miller.
Mariners: Kade Anderson (1-1, 4.2) Monday starts at the Angels, who go with Reid Detmers (5-8, 3.32) in a matchup of left-handers.
Athletics: RHP Jack Perkins (3-11, 6.53) pitches Tuesday at Tampa Bay, which starts RHP Griffin Jax (7-10, 3.99).
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Seattle Mariners' Randy Arozarena, right, jokes with Lazaro Montes (99) after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Seattle Mariners' Randy Arozarena runs the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Athletics, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Athletics' Lawrence Butler reacts after being hit by a pitch while at-bat during the third inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
Athletics' Lawrence Butler runs the bases after after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, in West Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Sara Nevis)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s national election was too close to call early Monday, with preliminary results giving the left-wing opposition a razor-thin one-seat advantage over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s right wing coalition and days of uncertainty until the final ballots are counted.
Preliminary results showed a very narrow lead for the opposition and former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson's bid to return to office at the head of the left coalition. But Kristersson also said he would explore “possibilities" given the close result.
With 92% of the vote counted early Monday, the Swedish Election Authority reported the four opposition parties were heading for 175 seats in the 349-seat parliament to 174 seats for the government alliance.
The outcome of the election may not be decided until Wednesday, when local election boards count early votes that did not make it to the polling stations by Election Day. This includes, among others things, overseas votes.
Andersson told supporters that “we must wait for the final election result” but added that “right now we are leading ... But we have to wait for the final result.”
Kristersson has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party center-right coalition. It relied on outside support from the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party that has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream, for a parliamentary majority. The Sweden Democrats had been promised Cabinet posts this time if the governing coalition were returned to office.
“When we have the final result it's a good idea to look at possible combinations,” he said early Monday, adding that “there is a very clear non-socialist majority, or non-left leaning economic majority in the Swedish parliament. And I will actually take note of that and at least figure out whether there are any possibilities.”
Sweden Democrat's leader Jimmie Åkesson said that “we will not know tonight” who will form the next government. The party's support slipped almost 3% from its 2022 result of 20.5% and it fell from second to third place.
Exit polls from public broadcaster SVT had initially shown the left-wing parties ahead by several percentage points. The exit polls set off jubilation at the Social Democrats’ election gathering but the mood shifted to quiet waiting as the results indicated a closer race.
The center left Social Democrats have led most Swedish governments since World War II. Andersson served as prime minister from 2021 until she lost power at the last election. To return to office she would have to seal a coalition agreement with other parties.
There are two major political blocs: one with four parties on the right and another with four parties on the left. So the big question is less about which party wins and more about which side can form a majority. Individual parties need a minimum of 4% of the vote to win parliamentary seats.
With broad political consensus in Sweden on several major issues such as support for Ukraine and the country’s decision to join NATO, much election discussion focused on the possibility of the anti-immigration hard right entering government. The Sweden Democrats’ role was in focus against a background of gains for the populist right in Europe, including the first-place finish by the far-right Alternative for Germany party in a regional election there Sept. 6.
The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Åkesson, who has led them since 2005 and overseen their growth from what was once a marginal party.
More than 8 million people in the nation of about 10.6 million were eligible to vote.
McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany
Liberal Party members react to the presentation of the exit poll at the election night watch party, in Stockholm, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
The Centre Party members react to the presentation of the exit poll at the election night watch party, in Stockholm, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
Social Democrats react to the presentation of the exit poll at the Social Democrats' election night watch party, in Stockholm, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Jonas Ekströmer/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, leader of the Moderate party (M) casts his vote at a polling station at Multeum Cultural Center in Strangnas, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Claudio Bresciani/TT News Agency via AP)
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station set up in a school, in Enkoping, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station set up in a school, in Enkoping, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)
A ballot envelope is placed in a ballot box at a polling station at the City Hall in Malmo, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson votes at a polling station in Nacka, Sweden, Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.(Stefan Jerrevång/TT News Agency via AP)
Leader of the Sweden Democrats party Jimmie Åkesson votes in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm, Saturday Sept. 12, 2026, a day prior to the general election in Sweden. (Claudio Bresciani/TT via AP)
Election workers Felicia Platner and Nora Aissaoui visit the Vardaga Kullabo nursing home with a mobile polling station, in in Huddinge, Sweden, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Jessica Gow/TT via AP)
Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson arrives for a party leadership televised debate in Gävle, Sweden, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
From left, the Liberals' Simona Mohamsson, Sweden Democrats' Jimmie Åkesson, Christian Democrats' Ebba Busch and Moderates' leader Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson arrive on the Moderates' bus for the party leadership televised debate in Gävle, Sweden, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP)
People wait in line at a polling station in Triangeln shopping center Friday evening to give their early vote, in Malmo, Sweden Friday, Sept. 11, 2026, ahead of general elections on Sunday (Johan Nilsson/TT via AP)
