Athletics fall to Mariners 8-1

Blackburn gets hammered on the road

The Oakland Athletics headed to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Seattle Mariners today at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners (20-18) and A’s (18-21) are currently in second and third place in the division. Righty Paul Blackburn took the mound tonight against Oakland native Bryan Woo for Seattle.

Through the first three innings, the two starters had nearly identical lines: three strikeouts and just one hit each with nothing but zeros on the scoreboard.

Seattle placed the first runner of the night in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth. Mitch Haniger and Cal Raleigh each walked to start the inning. Blackburn got Garver swinging of the first out. The walks came back to haunt him when Luke Raley doubled off the left field wall to score Haniger. Ty France doubled to drive in two more Mariners baserunners. The bleeding didn’t stop in the fourth when Dylan Moore shot one into the left field stands for his third home run of the season. Leadoff hitter Josh Rojas singled to keep the inning going. Then he stole second. Finally, Julio Rodríguez, the ninth batter of the frame, struck out to end the inning.

Bryan Woo pitched to one A’s hitter in the top of the fifth inning but after a long mound visited, exited before facing another batter. * Righty Trent Thorton took his place

Blackburn pitched himself into trouble again in the fifth inning when he gave up singles to Haniger and Raleigh and Mitch Garver walked to load the bases with no outs. Luke Raley grounded into a force play at home, erasing Haniger. Tyler Ferguson painted the corner for strike three against ty France for the second out of the inning. But Moore came through again with a bloop single to left field to score two more runs. At the end of five, the Mariners led 7-0.

Easton Lucas came in to pitch the sixth for the A’s. Josh Rojas singled to start the inning, but Lucas struck out the next three batters looking to extinguish any threat.

Shea Langeliers opened the inning with a leadoff double to right field. But after two “K’s” and a ground out to first, he was stranded there.

After a walk and a base hit to start off the bottom of the seventh. Micheal Kelly replaced Easton Lucas, but promptly gave up an excuse me bloop hit by Dylan Moore to score Luke Raley to bring the score to 8-0 Mariners.

Austin Voth came in for Seattle to shut down the A’s and end the game. But Kyle McCann and Tyler Soderstrom greeted him with base hits. Butler placed a soft single perfectly into centerfield to score McCann and end the shutout. Voth plunked Brett Harris on the wrist to load the bases for former Mariner Abraham Toro. But Toro couldn’t get it done and the final score was 8-1 in favor of the Mariners.

*The Mariners organization announced later that Woo was lifted for precautionary reasons.