WEST SACRAMENTO – Not again.
Yes, again.
Points for originality, though. The Seattle Mariners lost another game to the Athletics on Sunday afternoon, 8-7, and were walked off by a home run for the second time in three days, yet also found a new way to harm their playoff chances with a series of mistakes that contributed to the defeat at Sutter Health Park – almost as much as Lawrence Butler’s two-run blast to right-center with no outs in the ninth.
Randy Arozarena homered twice for Seattle, including in the eighth to provide a 7-6 lead, but Seattle also allowed a run on a bases-loaded walk as part of a bad day for the bullpen.
The Mariners were seemingly in control with a 6-2 lead, but also ran themselves out of a rally in the fifth when Jhonny Pereda rounded second base too far as the A’s threw to first base to record an out on a fielder’s choice, only to have Jeff McNeil throw to second for an unusual double play.
The Mariners got five innings from starter Bryce Miller, especially noteworthy as a nice recovery after he allowed home runs on back-to-back pitches in the first inning. They also increased their problems when the sloppy defense let what should have been a bloop double turn into three bases when the throw by right fielder Dominic Canzone sailed past second.
“At this point of the year, especially with where we’re at in the standings, you can’t be giving away free bases,” Miller said after allowing just the two early hits in five innings, although he also walked five. “You can’t be running into outs. Obviously if you get walked off twice, every run matters, whether that’s runs scored for us or runs scored for them. You’ve just got to really lock it in and take advantage of every opportunity that we have. We’ve just got to go out and win tomorrow.”
The Mariners thought they knew agony Friday night, when Donovan Walton beat them with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning. That pain was at least lessened by the way they responded Saturday, with 19 runs and 23 hits in a 19-1 trouncing. And then came Sunday with an early lead, Miller’s personal bounce-back from the rocky first inning and Seattle seemingly heading toward victory in a new way: small ball that was so different from the Saturday of raining offense on the A’s.
With one out in the top of the fourth, Weston Wilson lofted a fly ball to shallow center field for the Mariners. Walton, the Athletics second baseman, went out, center fielder Henry Bolte came in and Butler pursued from right field.
No one caught it. Wilson had a 218-foot RBI on a 75.5 mph floater that may have damaged a blade of grass when it landed, and the Mariners had a 3-2 lead.
Two batters later, following Pereda’s sacrifice fly, J.P. Crawford hit a comebacker that bounced off the back of starting pitcher Jacob Lopez’s right shoulder during his follow through and away from the A’s defense, driving home another run. Lopez suffered no damage. No physical damage at least – the infield single did chase him from the game.
Everything was breaking right for Seattle, now even on the, uh, strength of a bloop single and a carom off the opposing pitcher. They were well-positioned to beat the Athletics, and would next travel to Anaheim for a three-game series against one last-place team – the Angels in the AL West – to be followed by three more against another last-place squad – the Rockies in the NL West.
Only to lose the forward momentum when Butler homered in the ninth.
“We gotta keep going,” manager Dan Wilson said. “There’s not a sense of ‘Not again.’ There’s a sense of continuing to move forward. A tough one today, no question. We’ve got to keep fighting, keep going, and we get a chance to do that tomorrow.”
That would be Monday against the Angels, with the Mariners in recovery mode.
Again.