OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Seattle Mariners will try to give their wild-card playoff hopes another boost Friday night when they send veteran Hisashi Iwakuma to the mound to face the Oakland As and rookie Daniel Mengden in the opener of a three-game series at the Oakland Coliseum.Iwakuma (14-11, 4.01 ERA) has a career-high-tying four-game losing streak, but he posted quality starts in three of those defeats. In his most recent start, a 4-2 loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Angels at Safeco Field, Iwakuma gave up three runs on eight hits over seven innings, struck out five and walked one.I hate to think where wed be without him this year, Mariners manager Scott Servais said after Iwakumas last start. Hes been very valuable.Before his four-game skid, Iwakuma was 14-4 with a 3.63 ERA in his previous 19 starts, a stretch that ended with a 4-3 victory against the As in Oakland on Aug. 13. Iwakuma allowed three runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings with two strikeouts and no walks that day, raising his career record against the Athletics to 8-5. He is 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA in three starts against the As this season.The Mariners (72-68) are 5-11 over their past 16 games, but they ended their seven-game homestand with a 6-3 victory against the Texas Rangers on Thursday night. Seattle won three of four games from the Rangers, who lead the AL West by 8 1/2 games over the Houston Astros and 10 1/2 over the Mariners.The Mariners trail Baltimore by 4 1/2 games for the American Leagues second wild-card spot. They also trail the Detroit Tigers, Houston, the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals in the wild-card race.We are not done, Servais said after Thursday nights victory. I know people want to write us off, but we still have a bunch of games to play. Its going to be interesting.Seattle is 7-5 this year against the As (60-79), and two teams will meet seven more times, including a season-ending, four-game series at Safeco Field.Mengden was called up Saturday from Triple-A Nashville for his second stint with the As this season. He gave up seven runs on eight hits over 2 2/3 innings that night in an 11-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox as his record fell to 1-6 and ERA rose to 6.66.This will be Mengdens first career appearance against the Mariners, but he has watched them enough to know what type of challenge he is in for.Its going to be a tough lineup, but I know if I stick to what I can do and I get ahead, Ill be able to use my stuff and hopefully get some early outs, force weak contact and try to go from there, Mengden said.Mengden started the season at Double-A Midland, jumped to Nashville and earned his first trip to the major leagues in early June. He was sent back to Nashville on July 26 after making nine starts for the As and developing a tired pitching arm. He had his work load reduced at Triple-A, and his arm strength returned.Toward the end of my (first) stint in the big leagues, I was getting a little tired, Mengden said. I feel like my arm wasnt recovering as fast, my (velocity) was down. I wasnt able to make pitches and I got a little wild. I think I was trying to do too much with what I had in the tank.I went down there and had six, seven starts, five innings max, no matter what the pitch count was. It felt really good, not throwing as much and getting a little rest every outing going into it. I feel really good right now.Mengden is 0-5 with a 7.53 ERA at the Coliseum. His career-opening, five-game losing streak at home is tied for the longest in Oakland history with Dallas Braden (2007) and Steve Ontiveros (1985-86). 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Great Britains Jason Kenny, Phil Hindes and Callum Skinner have won the gold medal in the mens team sprint at the Rio Olympics.Britains three-man, three-lap team sprint squad have a habit of peaking every four years and did so again as Kenny claimed his fourth Olympic gold.Britain have not won a world title in the discipline since 2005, but have now won gold at the 2008, 2012 and now 2016 Olympics.The British trio clocked 42.440 seconds, an Olympic record, to claim gold, just five months after finishing sixth in the world at the Track World Championships in London.Kenny said: It was all a bit of a surprise really. Weve been going quite well in training so we had a rough idea of what we could do but we surpassed that in that first ride when we set that Olympic record.At that point I thought we could run away with it like London but then New Zealand came back at us and set the benchmark. We just went into the final with nothing to lose.The team event is always the best no doubt about it. You get to win it with your mates and I remember that with Chris and Jamie in Beijing and then again in London. Its good to share it with your mates -- it can get a bit lonely winning on your own.We made it a priority to make sure Callum was on the back of us so we could protect him as much as possible. We knew he had it in him so Im not surprised that hes stepped up to be the best in the world. It all came together and were really chuffed. Today was pretty special and it was a good first day in the velodrome for all of us.Hindes added: It felt like a home Olympics with all the GB flags here and a bit like London. As a team weve come together in the last three months and have been working so hard since the World Championships. We were just desperate to win the gold medal. Weve misssed out on so many World Championships so to win the Olympics again is just amazing.ddddddddddddew Zealands Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Ed Dawkins, the world champions, had to settle for silver in 42.542 seconds, just 0.102 behind.Bronze went to France in 43.143 seconds.The performance of the team sprint squad was something of a surprise.They came from nowhere to triumph four years ago in London, as Sir Chris Hoy claimed the fifth of his six Olympic golds, and repeated the trick in Rio after finishing a lowly sixth at Marchs Track World Championships in the English capital.Hindes, Kenny -- champions with Hoy four years ago -- and Skinner set an Olympic record in qualifying, but the standard was overtaken by New Zealand, who finished their first round in 42.535 seconds.However, the British trio won the duel for gold. Hindes was narrowly behind after his lap, but Kenny pushed the team in front and Skinner held on.It was the days only medal event, but there was further good news for Britain.Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull qualified fastest in the four-man, four-kilometres team pursuit. They finished in 3:51.943. The world record, set in winning gold at London 2012, is 3:51.659.The first round and final take place on Fridays second day of action, where Wiggins is sure to be the focus.He had a dispute with commissaires on Thursday ahead of the qualification ride, when officials summoned him to measure his height.In the corresponding womens event, which resumes and concludes on Saturday, Laura Trott, Joanna Rowsell Shand, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald advanced in a world record time, clocking 4:13.260. ' ' '