Jed Lowrie broke a third-inning tie with a two-run home run Tuesday night, and the Oakland Athletics held on for a 3-2 victory over the Mariners in Oakland, Calif., in a game that saw the return of Seattle's Robinson Cano and the loss starting pitcher James Paxton.

A second one-run win in two nights allowed the A's (72-48) to pull 3 1/2 games ahead of the Mariners (69-52) in the duel for the second wild-card spot in the American League.

Cano batted second and played first base in his first game after serving an 80-game drug suspension. He went 1-for-4, singling in his second at-bat. He never previously played first base in his career.

Paxton was hit in the left arm by a line drive off the bat of the third batter he faced -- Lowrie -- and had to leave the game. X-rays taken at the site were negative, and the injury was labeled as a bruise. The team listed Paxton as day-to-day.

Paxton had already allowed a home run to Oakland's leadoff batter, Marcus Semien, on his fifth pitch of the game.

Semien's 10th homer of the season came after the Mariners had scored in the top of the first against A's starter Mike Fiers (8-6) on a double by Mitch Haniger and an RBI single by Nelson Cruz.

Felix Hernandez (8-11) relieved Paxton with one out and one on in the first and retained a 1-1 tie until the third, when Lowrie followed a two-out walk to Matt Chapman with his two-run homer.

It was Lowrie's 19th home run of the season.

The Mariners got within 3-2 on Cameron Maybin's leadoff homer in the fifth. It was Maybin's fourth home run of the year and first since joining the club after a trade-deadline deal with Miami.

Fiers, who made his second start since joining the A's in a trade from Detroit, turned the ball over to the Oakland bullpen after six innings. He limited the Mariners to two runs and six hits. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Ryan Buchter, Yusmeiro Petit and Fernando Rodney combined to pitch two innings of shutout ball in the seventh and eighth. In the ninth, against A's closer Blake Treinen, the Mariners got consecutive two-out singles by Denard Span and Kyle Seager, putting the potential tying run at second base.

Treinen then got Mike Zunino to ground out, notching his 32nd save of the season.

Pitching in relief for the first time in his career after being demoted from the rotation on Aug. 7, Hernandez allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Hernandez had started each of his first 398 career pitching appearances.

Hernandez said of coming on in relief and getting extra time to warm up as an injury replacement, "It was weird. I don't know, I just took the ball and throw as many pitches as I can, try to get loose. And then, that's it.

"I know my body, I know my arm, I don't throw a lot of pitches to get loose ... so I was ready to go. It was a little different. You know I'm a professional and I had a job to do, so I did it."

Lowrie had two hits and two RBIs for the A's, who won their fourth straight. Semien also had two hits for Oakland.

Span had a single and a double for the Mariners, who fell to 5-4 on their 10-game trip and saw their lead in the season series over the A's shrink to 6-5.

The Mariners out-hit the A's 9-8.

--Field Level Media