(My Sportsbook) -- The Seattle Mariners will send ace Felix Hernandez to the mound in hopes of generating a second consecutive victory over the Oakland Athletics when the two American League West foes resume a three-game weekend set this afternoon at McAfee Coliseum.

Hernandez came through with a most impressive effort on Opening Day, as the young phenom battled through a twisted ankle he suffered in the first inning to hold Minnesota to a run and five hits over eight frames in Monday's 6-1 victory over the Twins. He struck out six and walked three in a 97-pitch effort.

The talented Venezuelan, who turned 23 on Wednesday, lowered his earned run average to 2.79 in 15 career April starts, his lowest figure of any month.

Hernandez has also shown an affinity for pitching at McAfee Coliseum, where the right-hander is 4-2 with a 2.41 ERA in six lifetime outings. Both of his two complete games in 2008 were pitched in Oakland.

For his career, Hernandez owns a 7-4 record in 12 career starts against the Athletics and has an outstanding 2.56 ERA lifetime versus Oakland.

After recording an AL-worst 61-101 record last season, the Mariners have gotten off to an encouraging 3-2 start under first-year skipper Don Wakamatsu and earned their second straight win with Friday's 5-4 decision in the A's 2009 home opener.

All of Seattle's offensive output came during a five-run second inning highlighted by a go-ahead two-run double by Yuniesky Betancourt and a two-RBI single off the bat of Endy Chavez, who finished 3-for-5 on the night. Kenji Johjima added an RBI single during the big frame.

Rookie Chris Jakubauskas picked up his first major league victory with two innings of relief of starter Ryan Rowland-Smith, who was pulled after giving up two unearned runs and walking four batters over the first 3 1/3 innings. Jakubauskas allowed a pair of runs on two hits upon taking over.

Roy Corcoran, Shawn Kelley and David Aardsma protected a one-run Seattle lead with a combined 3 2/3 scoreless innings, with Aardsma holding the A's scoreless over the final two frames to register his first career save.

Oakland rookie Brett Anderson, making his major league debut, surrendered all five Seattle runs in the second inning to take the loss, but the highly-touted 21-year-old settled down afterward and lasted six innings.

Orlando Cabrera went 3-for-3 with an RBI for the Athletics, who had a two-game win streak snapped, while Matt Holliday and Nomar Garciaparra also drove in runs in the loss.

Opposing Hernandez this afternoon will be Josh Outman, who makes his first start of 2009 for Oakland. The 24-year-old rookie left-hander was acquired by the A's from Philadelphia last July in the trade that sent veteran starter Joe Blanton to the Phillies and made six late-season appearances for the club, including four starts.

Outman went 1-2 with a 4.56 ERA in his brief major-league stint last year and made his final 2008 start against the Mariners in Seattle. He came out on the losing end of a 4-3 decision after yielding four runs (3 earned) on eight hits through six innings.

The Athletics won 10 of 19 matchups between these AL West foes last season, including six of nine meetings held at the Coliseum. Seattle held its own in Oakland the previous year, however, emerging victorious in eight of nine tests as the visiting club.