Mariners: too little, too late in 5-4 loss to Athletics

A bad night at the ballpark and a worse one in the standings, but hope on the horizon

Bryan Woo made history tonight, becoming the first Mariner to ever go 21 consecutive starts of six innings or more, passing Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

Unfortunately, that would be all there would be to celebrate from Woo’s night after another frustrating loss where the Mariners flailed against the A’s starter Jeffrey Springs for six innings, mustering up four runs—again, all on homers—but ultimately falling just short.

It seemed like things would go differently from the jump. The Mariners got on the board first, with Julio paying homage to his mentor Ichiro Suzuki with this home run, tying Julio and Ichiro at 99 in the Mariners’ record books:

But the A’s wold strike right back in the bottom of the inning with two outs. Brent Rooker, who has reason to be annoyed with the Mariners, pounced on a fastball that just clipped the edge of the zone for a solo shot that, at 416 feet to dead center, just edged out Julio’s blast (413 feet). Okay, Brent we get it, sheesh.

But unlike the Mariners in the first inning, who had left Randy Arozarena stranded at first base on his single, the A’s were able to push Shea Langeliers around for a go-ahead run. Langeliers, maybe smarting after the Mariners ran footloose and fancy free against him in the first two games of this series, stole second after his single, and then scored on a Tyler Soderstrom double—which had a questionable call, as home plate umpire Chris Conroy blew an obvious strike two call that would have made the count 0-2 instead of 1-1. Conroy blew another big call in the third inning in an at-bat where Nick Kurtz wound up walking, and Woo was obviously upset, clearly mouthing “that’s not up” on the broadcast and then going to speak to Conroy after a ball-don’t-lie double play got him out of the inning.

After another brutal missed call in the fourth with two outs against Miguel Andujar, the A’s got another run on a pull homer, because of course they did. Somehow a one-run lead felt marginally approachable, but a two-run lead felt insurmountable given the way the Mariners hitters flailed against Oakland starter Jeffrey Springs. After Randy’s single in the first, the Mariners went down thirteen times in a row, making quick, harmless outs on the ground and in the air (along with six strikeouts). There were many, many at-bats to dislike during this stretch, but my least favorite was Jorge Polanco flying out despite being gifted a 2-0 count to start the at-bat.

The Mariners just couldn’t punish any of Springs’s mistakes; the A’s very much punished Woo’s, such as when he hung a slider to Darell Hernaiz (!!!) for a solo shot to make it 4-1. Gross stuff all around.

Finally, Ben Williamson broke up the shutout streak in the sixth, working a leadoff walk and advancing to second on a balk, but J.P. Crawford immediately lined out on a middle-middle sweeper (again: see not punishing mistakes) to put the Mariners right back in the hole. It feels mean to pick on J.P. when he’s having to play with a lefty on the mound, but his recent stretch has been brutal: over his last 50 plate appearances, he’s slashing .085/.122/.128., good for a wRC+ of -30. It feels like there’s a cascading effect with J.P.’s struggles, as well, as Julio and Cal both went down quickly after that, putting big swings on balls that wound up as a strikeout (Julio) and a first-pitch flyout (Cal). Perhaps a lineup shakeup is necessary.

The A’s decided to pull Springs in the seventh for Justin Sterner and the Mariners offense finally woke up. Josh Naylor, finally facing a righty, worked a walk, and then Jorge Polanco, hitting from his power side, homered to draw the Mariners within one.

But the Mariners couldn’t add on after that, and Woo gave one of those runs right back on a leadoff homer to Andujar in the seventh, leaving a fastball middle-middle for a no-doubter. It was a disappointing outing from Woo, who’d been so sharp against the A’s in Oakland but struggled in Sacramento. The A’s got a lot of hard contact off Woo despite a solid whiff rate:

That extra homer stung especially because the A’s, seemingly resting Mason Miller ahead of the trade deadline, opted to use Jack Perkins for the last two innings of the game. Perkins set down the side 1-2-3 in the eighth, but surrendered a one-out homer to Randy Arozarena in the ninth. It was Randy’s 21st of the year, drawing him within two of tying his career-high:

But that’s all the Mariners were able to come up with in a heartbreaking one-run loss that gave them a losing roadtrip against the bottom of the AL West. Bad!

However, during that ninth inning word broke that the Diamondbacks, apparently realizing no one would pay the exorbitant price they’d set for Eugenio Suárez, were finalizing a deal to send Geno back to the Mariners. The price: fairly reasonable, even for two months of a rental player.

The Mariners have pushed in their chips over this trade deadline, acquiring the best rental bat on the market, a bullpen upgrade, and a much-needed solution at first base. The AL remains wide open, and despite tonight’s loss, the Mariners have positioned themselves to be part of the race down the stretch. The offense and starting pitching continues to lack consistency, though, and one good-vibes-shaped bandage doesn’t totally fix that. The Mariners as an organization have done their part; now the players in the lineup, one through nine, need to do theirs.