By Charlie O. Mallonee
The Oakland A’s hoped to guarantee a series win in their final set before the All-Star Break by downing the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night. That opportunity to win the series will now have to happen on Sunday in the “rubber game” of the three-game series after the A’s lost to the M’s 6-3 on Saturday night.
The A’s staked their starting pitcher Chris Bassitt to a 2-0 lead through three innings, but the game took a dramatic turn in the bottom of the fourth inning. Bassitt gave up four runs off just four hits.
With Domingo Santana on at first and no one out, DH Daniel Vogelbach launched the first pitch from Bassitt high into the right-field seats to tie the game at 2-2. The next batter, Omar Narvaez, singled to right. Kyle Seager then hit a 2-0 pitch into the right-field seats for a two-run home run. The inning ended with the M’s up 4-2, and they would never look back after that frame.
Focus on the A’s
- Bassitt was charged with the loss and his record fell to 5-4 on the season. Bassitt gave up multiple home runs for the first time since May 21st in Cleveland. This was just the second time in 14 games that he had allowed more than three runs.
- Matt Olson hit his 18th home run of the year in the third inning. Those 18 round-trippers have come in just 50 games. Interesting fact: 12 of his 18 home runs have been hit on the road.
- Ramon Laureano put another home run in the scorebook. He hit his 15th HR of the season in the top of the ninth inning. Seven of his home runs and 22 of his 44 RBI have come in the last 22 games.
- Bob Melvin said after the game, “He (Bassitt) got off to a good start, he was throwing hard. Everything looked like it was working. Then, he ends up getting a couple of two-run homers and now we’re behind. Maybe not his best outing and I just couldn’t let something happen with Vogelbach at the plate. Looks like he had good stuff today, it just happened quickly on him.”
Mariner’s notes
- Marco Gonzales recorded his 10th win of the season in this game. He worked 8.0-innings giving up two runs (both earned) on five hits. Gonzales struck out six and walked just one. He has now recorded 10 wins before the All-Star Break in back-to-back seasons.
- Daniel Vogelbach hit his 21st home run the year on Saturday night. The launch angle on his home run was 43 degrees. It was truly a “moon shot”.
- Kyle Seager ended an 0-for-21 streak at the plate when he hit his two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. This was his first HR since June 21.
- There has been a home run hit in each one of the Mariners first 93 games this season. That is an MLB record.
- Bob Melvin on Marco Gonzales: “It seems like we’ve played that game against him where we’ve had him on the ropes early in the game and he’s limited the damage and ended up going seven or eight innings. It feels like we’ve played that game quite often against him. So you’ve got to give him some credit. We would have liked to have (done) a little bit more damage early on and scored a few more runs and got a little more distance but we didn’t and he settles in and pitches well.”
Up next
RHP Daniel Mengden (3-1, 4.67 ERA) will take the hill on Sunday for the A’s. The M’s will use RHP Matt Carasiti (0-0, 1.80 ERA) to open the game with the plan being to turn the game over to Wade LeBlanc as the primary pitcher. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM PDT.
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