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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Henry Blanco hopped on a cross-country flight from Miami first thing Friday morning for his fresh start out West with the Seattle Mariners -- still a big leaguer as he approaches his 42nd birthday in August. And what a memorable Mariners debut he delivered -- with the bat, behind the plate catching ace Felix Hernandez, and even in a spontaneous mound visit. Blanco hit a sixth-inning grand slam to break a scoreless tie and give Venezuelan countryman and good friend King Felix all the offence he needed, and Seattle beat the Oakland Athletics for the second straight game with a 4-0 victory Saturday. He hardly saw this coming. "I was hoping I could still get a job and show them I can still play," said Blanco, who is playing for his 11th team. "That was a special day today." The 41-year-old Blanco, a .184 hitter with no home runs coming into the game, was a most unlikely candidate to provide the decisive hit for Seattle. The Mariners signed him Friday, three days after his release by Toronto. He became the oldest Seattle player ever with a slam. Mariners manager Eric Wedge wrote Blanco into the lineup right away -- and it didnt hurt Blanco had previously caught Hernandez in the bullpen for the World Baseball Classic. "Im glad he did it," Wedge said. "First of all, I thought he did a tremendous job behind home plate. You can see what he does back there, how he handles things and the way he makes it look so easy. ... Talk about going up there ready to hit, bases loaded, he goes up there ready to hit and hit it a long way." Hernandez (8-4) struck out five of Oaklands initial eight batters and seven through four innings on the way to eight Ks in seven scoreless innings. Michael Morse had two doubles among his three hits, including one in the sixth before Blancos drive stayed just inside the left-field foul pole. Blancos only other grand slam came with Milwaukee more than 13 years ago -- on May 12, 2000, off Pittsburghs Jason Schmidt. It was the fifth-longest gap between grand slams dating back to 1900, according to information provided by the Mariners from the Elias Sports Bureau -- 13 years, 34 days. Blancos slam at 41 -- he turns 42 on Aug. 29 -- topped one by Raul Ibanez earlier this season accomplished at 40 years, 347 days. "Thats pretty good. Well Ive got it now," Blanco said, smiling. Hernandez received a big defensive assist to end the fifth and save a run. Jed Lowrie doubled leading off the inning and advanced on Seth Smiths flyout to centre. But Chris Young flied into a double play in which right fielder Endy Chavez threw Lowrie out at home to keep the game scoreless. Lowrie didnt even touch the plate. "I called him out," Hernandez quipped. And, with Coco Crisp aboard on a one-out single in the sixth, Hernandez got John Jaso -- who caught his perfect game with Seattle last year -- to line into a double play at first that caught Crisp off the bag. The As also grounded into an inning-ending double play in the seventh with runners on first and second. Suddenly, Seattle has a chance to sweep the first-place As on Sunday after Oakland took three in a row from the New York Yankees before this series began, including a 3-2, 18-inning victory Thursday. Seattle snapped Oaklands 11-game home winning streak at the Coliseum on Friday night, then put together another fine performance to back its ace. The As have lost their first series in the last 10 over the past month. Hernandez allowed five hits and walked one to improve to 22-7 with a 2.70 ERA lifetime in 39 career starts in June. Seattle starters are 5-1 with a 0.94 ERA -- 6 earned runs in 57 1-3 innings -- since June 7 and have gone six straight starts of at least seven innings. Charlie Furbush and Yoervis Medina each pitched an inning of relief to finish the Mariners six-hit shutout. Still, Blanco provided the highlight of the day. "For him to come through like that is awesome, his first start here. That was unbelievable," Hernandez said. "It surprised me a little bit. But I know he has a little power. Hes good." Oaklands A.J. Griffin (5-6) dropped to 0-3 over his four-start winless stretch. The right-hander allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two. "At the end of the day its four runs on one pitch, and when youre facing Felix, every run counts," Griffin said. "Its frustrating. Hopefully were not talking about something like this again." Blanco, meanwhile, hopes for a few more. In his 16th season, he is still fueled by one thing: "Im just trying to win a World Series," he said. "I love the game, I have passion for the game and I just want to get a ring so I can go home." Notes: Crisp returned to the Oakland lineup playing centre field and batting leadoff in his first start since bruising his heel Tuesday night against New York. He didnt move as well as usual. ... As RF Josh Reddick had the night off. ... Mariners starting pitchers have had eight consecutive quality starts. ... Wedge said 1B Justin Smoak (strained right oblique), CF Franklin Gutierrez (strained right hamstring) and demoted 2B Dustin Ackley would likely be re-evaluated after Sundays game to determine their next steps. ... The series finale Sunday has the looks of a possible pitchers duel with Oaklands Bartolo Colon (8-2) and Seattles Hisashi Iwakuma (7-1). ... Announced first-pitch temperature was 56 degrees. ... In 2001, Edgar Martinez hit a grand slam at 38 years, 220 days -- the previous-oldest Seattle player before Ibanez and Blanco this season. Cedric Killings Jersey Store . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. Paul Martha Jersey Store .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/cairo-santos-jersey-store/ . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Dennis McKinnon Jersey Store . The 31-year-old Spain midfielder hasnt played since Madrid lost in the Copa del Rey final to Atletico Madrid in May due to back and foot injuries. Don Wells Jersey Store . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros.Steve Harmison was full of praise for James Anderson and Stuart Broad as Englands opening pair took a combined nine wickets on day two of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley. England bowled the visitors out for 91 - enforcing the follow-on - after they had notched 298 in their first innings.Anderson took 5-16 to move him up to sixth in the all-time leading Test wicket takers with 438 victims and is the third-highest seamer on the list behind only Glenn McGrath (563) and Courtney Walsh (519). Watch the pick of the action from the second day of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka James Anderson has to be talked about as one of the greats of our game, said Harmison.McGrath finished when he was 36, Walsh when he was 38, so of course Anderson at only 33 can keep going and pass both of them.They are two of the best fast bowlers of all time, so people have got to be looking now and saying that Anderson is in that same league. Glenn McGrath took 563 wickets in 124 Tests for Australia People say Jimmy has struggled to bowl in the past at Headingley, but he was awesome today, as was Stuart Broad.Those two as a combinationn together are fantastic.dddddddddddd For me, they are the best duo that England have ever had, theyve got to be talked about as one of the top combinations of all time.Today they got the ball to consistently land on the same length, knowing what the conditions demanded at Headingley. Englands Stuart Broad celebrates the wicket of Kusal Mendis Was I surprised what happened to Sri Lanka today? No. The Test match has gone the way I thought it would.Its tough on the Sri Lankans, as there are some young, inexperienced lads in there, and you could have put the most experienced batting line-up in the world out there against those two in those conditions, and they would have struggled.Its similar for England on the sub-continent - if they are presented with a raging turner in India this winter with three high quality spinners, it will be similarly tough. Anderson celebrates one of his five Sri Lankan wickets on day two Englands tail is up now, and the conditions are unlikely to change, so I expect they will bowl Sri Lanka out for a reasonably low total again tomorrow.England only bowled 36 overs, just over a session. The players are so fit now, and theyd normally expect to field around 120 overs. So from that point of view, Im not surprised they enforced the follow on. Theyve now just got to put in the same amount of effort as they would on a flat pitch.Its a great way to start the Test summer, and hopefully by the end of this Test, they will have set a benchmark that they can try to look to better in the two games left in the series, and against Pakistan later in the summer.Watch live coverage from day three of the first Test between England and Sri Lanka at Headingley, live on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am on Saturday. Also See: England dominate SL Scorecard As it happened Sky Cricket podcast ' ' '