JANIE McCAULEY, AP Baseball Writer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Cesar Valdez pitched in the major leagues for the first time in nearly seven years and the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 9-6 on Thursday night.
He allowed three runs and five hits in four innings, struck out four and walked two. This marked just the third start of his career at age 32 and 10th appearance in all — and he is probably headed right back to the minors soon.
This is a 2017 photo of relief pitcher Cesar Valdez of the Oakland Athletics baseball team poses for a portrait. This image reflects the Athletics active roster as of Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, when this image was taken. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
A right-hander from the Dominican Republic, he was called up from Triple-A Nashville to fill in for injured opening day starter Kendall Graveman. Valdez last pitched in the big leagues on June 10, 2010, with Arizona just more than a month after his previous start on May 8.
Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer in the seventh and Ryan Dull (1-1) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for the victory in Oakland’s third straight win.
Taylor Motter hit a two-run homer for Seattle in the sixth against Frankie Montas.
RECAP: James Paxton came to the Coliseum without an ERA… then he met the #Athletics. https://t.co/4IDZpejEYB pic.twitter.com/urM0C7wRlL
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) April 21, 2017
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