10/2/22

Saturday- Mariners 5, Athletics 1

(Seattle, WA) Coming off an emotional night that saw the long playoff drought come to an end, the Mariners were definitely a candidate for a letdown on the following day. Many people expected it and were prepared for it. Luis Castillo and a makeshift lineup had different plane. Castillo and the bullpen dominated while the offense managed to scrape together a solid offensive performance to keep the party rolling with a 5-1 win over Oakland.

The game started out exactly how many people expected it to. Tony Kemp continued to have success against the Mariners with a leadoff single and two batters later Sean Murphy drew a walk to put runners on first and second with one out. Seth Brown then lined out to right field for the second out, but Jordan Diaz clutched up for Oakland with a base hit to left to easily score Kemp to make it 1-0 A’s. Castillo would strike out Conner Capel to finish the inning.

Dylan Moore would get the Mariners rolling right away with his 11th double of the season. He moved to third on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Winker with Carlos Santana coming to the plate. Santana would ground one right back up the middle and into center field for an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. A wild pitch followed by a passed ball moved Santana to third while Luis Torrens and Jarred Kelenic drew walks to load the bases. Sam Haggerty cashed in for the M’s with a base hit to right field to score Santana and Torrens to give Seattle a 3-1 lead.

Luis Castillo after that 1st inning was just dominant. Including the final out of the 1st inning, Castillo retired the final 16 batters that he faced in order to shutdown the Oakland lineup. La Piedra went six innings with only the one run allowed on just two hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. This was Castillo’s final start of the regular season as they look to use him in one of the first two games of the Wild Card series.

The Mariners wouldn’t be able to get anything going against JP Sears who took over in the 2nd inning and he would pitch six innings of scoreless ball while allowing just two hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Sears was incredible against the Mariners in three starts this season. Sears went a total of 16 innings while allowing just nine hits and two runs with only one of them being earned. He walked six batters and struck out 16 in those three starts as well.

It would be the Oakland bullpen that cost them mightily. Kirby Snead took over in the bottom of the 8th for the A’s and Seattle would jump on him immediately. Jesse Winker and Carlos Santana had back-to-back singles to start the inning. Luis Torrens hit a fly ball to right center that would drop as Chad Pinder and Seth Brown collided in the gap to let the ball drop. Winker would score to make it 4-1 as Santana reached third and Torrens advanced to second. Sam Haggerty would follow a Jarred Kelenic strikeout with a sacrifice fly to score Santana to make it 5-1.

Matthew Festa came in to close the door in the 9th and sat down Vimael Machin, Dermis Garcia, and Seth Brown in order to finish off the 5-1 win. After the first inning, Oakland only had one baserunner in the final eight innings against the combination of Luis Castillo, Matthew Boyd, Diego Castillo, and Matt Festa.

Notable Performences

Athletics

• JP Sears (ND)- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
• Jordan Diaz- 1-2, RBI

Mariners

• Luis Castillo (W, 8-6)- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
• Carlos Santana- 2-4, RBI, 2 R
• Sam Haggerty- 1-3, 3 RBI

Sunday- Athletics 10, Mariners 3

The finale of the three-game series did not go as well for the Mariners. Robbie Ray entered his final start of the regular season and it was not how he wanted his first year with the Mariners to end.

Ray got out of a bases loaded jam with nobody out in the 2nd but the 4th inning would be where Oakland started dealing damage. Shea Langeliers would leadoff with a solo home run for his fifth of the season and two batters later Cristian Pache would hit his third home run of the year with a two-run shot to give Oakland a 3-0 lead.

Oakland got another run in the top of the 5th with a Seth Brown single to score Chad Pinder to make it 4-0. In the top of the 6th, Nick Allen would hit a two-run home run to really bust it open making it 6-0 and end Robbie Ray’s outing. The southpaw went 5.2 innings and allowed six runs on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Seattle will also look to use him in the Wild Card series.

Oakland added four more runs in the 9th with an RBI single by Seth Brown followed by a three-run home run by Shea Langeliers. The M’s would avoid the shutout with a three-run home run in the bottom of the 9th by Jesse Winker but they would fall short of the sweep losing the finale 10-3.

Notable Performences

Athletics

• Shea Langeliers- 2-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R, BB
• Seth Brown- 2-4, 2 RBI, R, BB
• James Kaprielian (W, 5-9)- 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO

Mariners

• Jesse Winker- 1-3, HR, 3 RBI, R, BB
• Mitch Haniger- 2-4, 2B, R
• Robbie Ray (L, 12-12)- 5.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO

All six playoff teams have already clinched in the American League. The Houston Astros will have home field advantage and a bye and the New York Yankees also have a bye. The Cleveland Guardians will host either Tampa Bay or Seattle and Toronto will host the other of those two. Seattle (87-71) is 2.5 behind Toronto and will need the Blue Jays to meltdown to host the Wild Card series. The M’s are 1.5 ahead of Tampa Bay headed into the final regular season series. The Mariners will open up a four-game set with the Detroit Tigers on Monday at 6:40pm. George Kirby (8-4, 3.21 ERA) will make the final regular season start of his rookie season against Bryan Garcia (1-0, 3.29 ERA) for the Tigers.

Matt’s Takeaway

The fact that Seattle won another game over the weekend made it all in all a successful weekend. Sure, the loss on Sunday makes it very unlikely that they will host the Wild Card series, but it was going to be tough anyway with how hot Toronto is. This series with Detroit will all be about Julio Rodriguez getting back into the swing of things and get some momentum headed into the playoffs. Let’s enjoy this next week Mariner fans.

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