Athletics fall to the Mariners in 10 innings 7-2
Second consecutive great start spoiled late
Game two with the A.L. West rivals kicked off an hour and five minutes late thanks to a day of rain in the bay area. After a longer than usual wait, A’s lefty J.P. Sears started for the A’s against righty Logan Gilbert for the Mariners. There is always a concern with weather delays that pitchers may have warmed up early cooled down and then ramped up the heat again, but both pitchers were sharp in their first innings.
In the top of the third, Mariners Shortstop J.P. Crawford reached on a Tony Kemp error. Jose Caballero singled, driving Crawford to third and taking second on the throw. Sears blew a fastball past Julio Rodriguez for the first out. Then did it again against Ty France for the second out of the inning. A fly out to right field got Sears out of his first jam of the night.
Gilbert retired the first 9 A’s in a row. But Esteury Ruiz singled to lead off the fourth inning. He stole second, and Booker walked with one out. But Ramon Laureano hit into an inning-ending double play.
Sears got into a mini jam again in the fifth inning and worked out of it with the help of the “pitcher’s best friend”—the double play ball.
JJ Bleday showed off his arm in the sixth inning when he threw out Teoscar Hernandez trying to stretch a single into a double, ending the inning for J.P. Sears. Bleday, today’s call-up from AAA Las Vegas, got his first start in the kelly green and gold. Bleday came over from the Marlins in the February trade that sent AJ Puk to Miami. Bleday, a top prospect in the Marlins organization, had been crushing the ball in Vegas and immediately was inserted in the lineup.
Ryan Noda led off the inning with a walk. Esteury Ruiz doubled to drive him in with the first run of the night. Ruiz stole third base, his second of the night and his A.L. leading thirteenth of the season. Tony Kemp doubled to drive in Ruiz easily. At the end of six, the A’s led 2-0.
J. P. Sears exited after 6 shutout innings with a line of four hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts. The A’s starters had thrown thirteen scoreless innings in their past two starts. Domingo Acevedo pitched the seventh, giving up a run on two hits. Sam Moll and Zach Jackson combined for a scoreless eighth inning for the Athletics.
Nick Allen led off the bottom of the eighth with a double down the right field line. Esteury Ruiz dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Allen to third with just one out. But neither Tony Kemp nor Brent Rooker could get the speedy Ruiz home.
Jackson stayed in the game to pitch the ninth for the A’s going for his first save of the season. After getting the first out quickly, AJ Pollack battled through ten pitches against Jackson, and then drove the eleventh pitch of the at-bat into the center field stands to tie the game.
Adam Oller entered the game to pitch the tenth inning. Sticking with the extra-inning “ghost” runner at second, Jose Caballero was the placed runner. Oller walked Julio Rodriguez, and then struck out Ty France. Sam Haggerty struck out swinging for the second out. But then Eugenio Suarez took a high fastball and drove it deep into the night for a three-run homer, giving the Mariners a 5-2 lead. Teoscar Hernandez kept the inning alive with a two-out double. Oller then threw eight straight balls to load the bases. JP Crawford then singled to right field driving in two more, making the score 7-2. Sam Long replaced Oller and got the final out of the inning.
Shea Langeliers started the bottom of the tenth as the placed runner on second but was stranded there to end the game.
The A’s fall to 6-25 for the season while the Mariners win brings them to 14-16.