Seattle Mariners (35-55) at Oakland Athletics (49-41), 10:05 p.m.

By Sports Network | The Sports Network • Published July 09, 2008

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Down an ace, Oakland hopes Joe Blanton can put forth the same kind of effort that Justin Duchscherer gave the Athletics on Tuesday when they play the third of four games tonight against the Seattle Mariners at McAfee Coliseum.

Just hours after trading staff ace Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs, Duchscherer put on a dazzling display of pitching on Tuesday, throwing his first career shutout to lead the Athletics to a 2-0 win.

Duchscherer (10-5) allowed only two hits the entire game and did not let a runner reach third base, finishing with three strikeouts while walking none and winning for the sixth time in seven starts. Tuesday marked his first career complete game.

The righty is having a career year, having thrown quality starts in all but one game, and not having allowed more than two runs in an outing since May 18 at Atlanta.

Duchscherer, who lowered his major league-leading ERA to 1.78, has given up only six runs in his last 46 2/3 innings, encompassing six starts.

Ryan Sweeney, Kurt Suzuki and Jack Hannahan each had two hits for the A's, who have won four of their last six contests.

Carlos Silva (4-11) took the hard-luck defeat, losing for the ninth time in his last 10 starts. Silva went the distance as well, throwing eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits while striking out five and walking none.

Blanton, who is 5-11 with a 4.76 ERA, won for the second time in three starts since a four-start losing streak on Friday against the Chicago White Sox, allowing just one run and six hits in seven innings.

Blanton is 1-1 against the Mariners this year and is 8-4 in his career against them with a 3.15 ERA in 14 starts.

Seattle will counter with Miguel Batista, who returns to the starting rotation this evening for the Mariners.

Batista, who is getting the nod in place of the ailing Erik Bedard, has not started since getting banged around for eight runs (four earned) and five hits in 2 2/3 innings by the New York Mets back on June 25. He has made two relief appearances since, giving up just two hits in three scoreless innings.

He is 4-10 this season with a save and a 6.27 earned run average in 22 games, 14 of which have been starts.

Batista lost to Oakland earlier in the year and is 4-5 lifetime against them with a pair of saves and a 5.52 ERA in 19 games (12 starts).

Seattle has split its four contests in Oakland this season, but is 10-3 at McAfee Coliseum since the start of last season.