Mariners 8, Athletics 7: Seattle built an early seven-run lead and held off a furious rally to emerge with a one-run victory at Oakland.

The Mariners led 8-2 after 5 1/2 innings, but starter Felix Hernandez (1-0) allowed a two-run double to Kurt Suzuki in the sixth and then ran into more trouble in the seventh inning, departing with two runners on and one out before the Athletics cut the deficit to one on Yoenis Cespedes’ three-run homer off Steve Delabar. Tom Wilhelmsen and Brandon League each pitched a perfect inning of relief to preserve the win for the Mariners, with League picking up his second save.

Seattle built a 7-0 lead in the fourth inning, scoring six runs against Bartolo Colon (1-1). Ichiro Suzuki made it 2-0 with an RBI triple, and after run-scoring singles by Justin Smoak, Miguel Olivo and Munenori Kawasaki, Chone Figgins capped the rally with a two-run double.

Michael Saunders hit a solo home run in the sixth to put the Mariners in front by six before Oakland began its rally in the bottom of the frame.

Hernandez escaped with the win despite being tagged for six runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings of work. He struck out seven and walked one. Colon was pulled after just 4 1/3 innings, having yielded seven runs on 10 hits while striking out three.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Cespedes now leads the major leagues in home runs (3) and runs batted in (7) ... With Texas and Los Angeles both losing Saturday, Seattle (3-1) took an early one-game lead in the American League West ... Figgins, who ranked near the bottom of the American League last year with a .188 batting average, finished 3-for-5 to improve to .412 (7-for-17) on the season.