OAKLAND, Calif. -- It didn't take long for Adam Rosales to ignite an Oakland Athletics comeback against the Seattle Mariners on Saturday afternoon.

To be precise, it took three pitches and 15.90 seconds.

Rosales led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run, and Ryon Healy followed two batters later with a two-run shot, propelling the A's to their fifth straight win, a 4-3 triumph over the Mariners.

Right-hander Jharel Cotton (2-2) and four relievers combined to limit the Mariners to nine hits, helping Oakland win its third in a row over Seattle to start the four-game series.

"Today was a team game," Cotton admitted afterward. "It was fun to watch."

After Robinson Cano gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead with a solo homer off Cotton in the top of the first, the A's needed just three pitches to get even and only 11 to take a lead they never relinquished.

Rosales, who hadn't batted leadoff since 2013, got the game-opening uprising going against Seattle left-hander Ariel Miranda (1-2) with his second homer of the season.

"The first time (I batted leadoff), I remember asking (teammate) Chris Young: 'How do you approach leadoff?'" Rosales recalled from almost four years ago. "He said, 'Keep it the same.' The first or second pitch of the ballgame (might be) the best pitch you get all game."

In this case, it was the third. And then the race was on.

Rosales circled the bases in 15.90 seconds, the fastest "trot" in the three years that Major League Baseball has been tracking such things.

"Really? That was my fastest time?" Rosales asked, noting that he nearly collided with third base coach Chip Hale, who was extending a hand to congratulate the shortstop. "I told him, 'Get out of my way.'"

Before Rosales could catch his breath, Jed Lowrie followed with a single and Healy belted his third homer of the season, a two-run drive to left field that gave Oakland a 3-1 lead.

"That was big," Cotton said of the immediate retaliation. "Rosie set the tone with that one at-bat."

Nelson Cruz's sacrifice fly scored Mitch Haniger, who had been hit by a pitch, to get Seattle within 3-2 in the third.

But as they had done in the first inning, the A's countered immediately in the bottom of the third with a single by Lowrie and a double by Healy, setting up an RBI infield out by Khris Davis for a 4-2 advantage.

"Our guys certainly fought and battled today," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "Just didn't quite get the big hit when we needed it. It's been happening. It's been happening on the road a lot."

The Mariners fell to 1-9 on the road.

"We're not a team that's supposed to lose that many games," noted Cano, who had three of Seattle's nine hits. "I mean, you can lose, but we should be playing better on the road. We just have to keep fighting. We can't hang our head and wait to see what happens."

Miranda was pulled one batter into the fourth inning, having allowed four runs on seven hits. He struck out three and did not walk a batter.

Right-hander Chase De Jong kept the Mariners within striking distance with four innings of one-hit, shutout relief.

Cotton completed six innings, giving up two runs and six hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out two.

After Frankie Montas pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning, the Mariners got within 4-3 in the eighth when pinch-hitter Kyle Seager tripled off Liam Hendriks to score Cano, who had singled as the only batter to face Daniel Coulombe.

But Ryan Madson, the A's third pitcher of the inning, got Guillermo Heredia to ground out, stranding the potential tying run at third base.

Madson then worked a scoreless ninth, striking out three to sandwich a two-out single and stolen base by Jarrod Dyson. The save was Madson's first of the season.

"We had some guys down, so we've talked a lot about it's the next guy's turn to step up," said A's manager Bob Melvin, noting that relievers Sean Doolittle, Ryan Dull and Santiago Casilla were not available. "All in all, it shows the depth in the ballclub. It takes 25 to win. Over 162 games, it takes everybody."

Lowrie had three of the eight hits for Oakland (10-8), which had opened the four-game series with 9-6 and 3-1 wins.

Dyson collected two hits for the Mariners (7-12), who outhit the A's 9-8.

NOTES: A's SS Adam Rosales' home run as Oakland's first batter of the game was the second of his career. He also did it on the first pitch he saw from New York Yankees LHP C.C. Sabathia in his leadoff debut on May 3, 2013. ... Rosales has batted leadoff just six times in his career. ... The game featured a double-review on a fielder's choice ground ball hit by A's 3B Trevor Plouffe in the bottom of the eighth. A's manager Bob Melvin successfully challenged Plouffe having been called out at first base on the play, after which Mariners manager Scott Servais was denied when he claimed LF Khris Davis' slide at second base had been illegal. ... The successful challenge was the A's first of the season in four tries. They had been one of just three teams (along with the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs) who had entered play Saturday without a successful challenge this season. ... The A's, who were a season-worst three games under .500 after a 7-0 loss to Texas on Monday night, are now a season-best two games over. ... The Mariners are averaging 3.2 runs in their 10 road games this season and 5.2 runs in their nine home contests.