Athletics Walk Off Mariners in Extras 7-6

Celebrate!

The A’s started their weeklong home stand off with a bang on Monday evening, beating the Seattle Mariners in walk off fashion in extra innings 7-6 and starting the series and home stand off on a great note.

A’s strike for two early

Both teams entered today with winning records and occupying the top two spots in the AL West so there was plenty of motivation in both dugouts. Starting the game for the Athletics was Luis Severino. The high-priced offseason addition got into a little bit of trouble in the first inning thanks to a leadoff single and walk but a well-timed groundball helped him escape. He’d have a much better second frame that saw the righty collect two strikeouts and then pick off the baserunner he issued a walk to.

The Mariners went with Bryce Miller for the start in tonight’s contest. Entering with a sub-4 ERA tonight the A’s tagged him for a quick run in the first inning when third baseman Miguel Andujar lofted a deep sac fly to center field that brought in the game’s first run:

He has been one of the team’s best hitters this year and with third base being a problem so far for the team it’s beginning to look like we’ll be seeing him at the hot corner on a more consistent basis. For what it’s worth he didn’t field a ball today and was replaced for defensive purposes in the top of the eighth by Max Schuemann.

The A’s added on their next run in the second inning when JJ Bleday hit a leadoff double and Jacob Wilson followed that with an RBI single that doubled the Athletics’ lead:

That was the first of three hits Wilson would collect today. The young rookie shortstop is also in some pretty extraordinary company when it comes to hitting in key spots:

Those are some great numbers but that stat would end up being outdated before the night was through. He’d also add in some great highlights on defense at the critical position of shortstop, like this one:

Is there anything this guy can’t do?

Seattle answers back

Severino was hit hard in the third inning. Back-to-back walks opened the frame and an RBI single gave Seattle their first run. A flyout and strikeout put Sevy just one out away from escaping with minimal damage but a cutter than didn’t cut got punished for a RBI double. Back-to-back singles brought in two more runners as Seattle punished the veteran hurler for his walks. The Mariners had taken a 4-0 lead.

Clawing back

Facing their first deficit of the night it was time to begin the comeback journey. First came a momentum shifter as catcher Shea Langeliers launched his seventh home run of the year to lead off the fourth, making this a one-run game:

The next two batters were retired but then a 2-out rally saw the A’s string together three straight singles, with right fielder Lawrence Butler collecting the big hit to tie this game up at 4 apiece:

We had a fresh ballgame but still a long ways to go.

A’s & Mariners trade late runs

Starting pitcher Luis Severino didn’t have his best stuff tonight but he still finished his day on a roll, retiring the final seven batters he faced tonight. He’d leave with the game still tied meaning he would not earn his second win of the season but Sevy still did a good job of bouncing back from a rough third inning. He stopped the bleeding there and then gave the team some extra length to help preserve the bullpen for the rest of the series. That’s what a frontline starting pitcher does. His ERA now stands at 3.62 and he’ll take that number into his next start, which lines up to be against the

• Luis Severino: 6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 102 pitches

By now both team’s were into each other’s bullpens. Miller lasted just four innings so the A’s had to go against the Mariners’ bullpen for at least five innings tonight. It took a couple frames but the bottom of the seventh saw the team tag the Seattle relievers for their first run, courtesy of a sac fly from Langeliers:

That gave the team the lead but it was to be a short-lived one. Righty Grant Holman came on for the A’s in relief of Severino and allowed a run in his second inning of work on a 2-out RBI single. He probably shouldn’t have gone out for that second inning of work but hindsight is 20/20. Fellow righty Mitch Spence finished the eighth for Holman and Mason Miller danced around a pair of walks to get this game to the ninth inning tied. The Athletics would get the winning run into scoring position but ultimately strand him there. This game was headed for extra innings.

Extras

The top of the 10th inning arrived and with it came a runner already in scoring position for the visiting team. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice in the same game manager Mark Kotsay decided not to push Miller for an extra inning of work and instead turned to Tyler Ferguson. He didn’t allow a hit but he didn’t need to for Seattle to score as two sac flies brought the ghost runner around to score, giving Seattle the late lead.

For the Athletics they were now down to their final three outs. They too got a runner on second to start the frame but they’d need to bring him around if they wanted to extend this contest. Enter Jacob Wilson for his second base hit of the night:

Tie game yet again and the A’s were still rallying. First baseman Nick Kurtz walked and Luis Urias got on base on a catcher’s interference. Suddenly the A’s had the bases loaded and no outs. Surely the team could bring the runner at third home to end this game, right? Wrong. Facing Seattle closer Andres Munoz the next three batters struck out as Butler, Brent Rooker, and Tyler Soderstrom all went down on strikes to end an excellent chance to finish this game.

On to the 11th! Left-hander Hogan Harris entered and had an excellent outing, stranding his inherited runner at second and giving the A’s another chance to walk off in the bottom half of the frame. Gio Urshela laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to third base and the Mariners then proceeded to intentionally walk the next two batters to get to Wilson. That… predictably backfired:

Why would you try to get Wilson up to the plate? He’s among baseball’s leaders in batting with runners in scoring position and already had two hits with RISP today.

Doesn’t matter to us A’s fans. A’s win! The victory brings the Athletics to 20-16 and inches them closer to the division-leading Mariners. Severino powered through a rough inning to provide six frames. The bats put together seven runs while the bullpen did its job and then some. Another win against their rivals would draw these two even atop the AL West, with the Wednesday afternoon finale possibly deciding who finishes the series in first place.

These two teams will continue their series tomorrow, same time same place. The Athletics will turn to left-hander Jeffrey Springs for the start, hoping he can build off his successful last outing. Seattle will counter with righty Emerson Hancock as they look to bounce back from tonight’s loss.