Embed from Getty Images

The Mariners were just a handful of outs away from getting swept in their first-ever trip to Sutter Health Park, the temporary home of the city-less Athletics in Sacramento, heading into the final moments of all three games down by a run. While the first instance resulted in a loss, Seattle left its division rival stunned twice as it completed back-to-back, come-from-behind victories in games two and three to secure its ninth consecutive series win.

Here were the best and worst performances from what proved to be a wild three-game set.

3 UP

Rowdy Tellez

Getting bookend starts in the series, Tellez’s hot stretch since his breakout in Toronto continued. He picked up three more hits and four RBI, including a three-run blast to put the Mariners within one after trailing 5-1 in Wednesday’s eventual comeback win. Since April 18, Tellez is slashing .293/.355/.634 with four homers and 41 RBI in 45 plate appearances.

Andrés Muñoz

Muñoz finally allowed his first (unearned) run of the year in the bottom of the 10th inning of Monday’s 7-6 loss, but things nearly went a lot worse for him in incredibly frustrating fashion. After Jacob Wilson’s RBI single, Nick Kurtz was awarded a walk on a questionable check-swing call, then Luis Urías reached safely on what was ruled — and eventually confirmed by replay review — catcher’s interference on Cal Raleigh due to Urías’ bat making contact with the strings of Raleigh’s glove. This loaded the bases with no one out and the winning run on third for the top of the Athletics’ lineup, forcing Muñoz to go deep in his bag — and that’s exactly what he did. He froze Lawrence Butler with a 100 mile-per-hour fastball on the top rail, worked back from a 3-1 count to get Brent Rooker swinging on a heater in on the All-Star slugger’s hands, then disposed of Tyler Soderstrom on three pitches. The A’s still went on to win the following inning, but Muñoz’s performance after everything that went against him was some of the best reliever work we’ll see all year. Two days later, he capped off the Mariners’ 6-5 win with his 13th save of the season while handing Wilson just his seventh strikeout on the year.

Julio Rodríguez

After going 0-for-4 on Monday, Rodríguez rattled off five hits in the final two games of the series. On Tuesday, he broke the ice with a solo home run to right-center field, his sixth of the season, while collecting two more knocks and scoring the game-winning run on Raleigh’s clutch two-run single in the top of the ninth. His two additional hits on Wednesday now jump his batting average up to .228 and his OPS to .732 on the year — perhaps a sign that he’s finally turning the corner.

Honorable mentions: Emerson Hancock, Miles Mastrobuoni, Cal Raleigh, Ben Williamson, Carlos Vargas, Dylan Moore

3 DOWN

Bryce Miller

Having dealt with arm fatigue and most recently back stiffness, what’s going on with Miller is becoming an increasing concern for the Mariners. He was 96-97 on the fastball early on in his start, which was an encouraging sign, but that quickly decreased into the 93-94 range he’s found himself in far too often this year. On top of the velo concerns, he showed little feel for his splitter and missed badly with his slider and knuckle-curve on several occasions, leaving him with no true putaway offering to lean on as his pitch count ballooned in a hurry, forcing him to depart after just four innings and consequently putting a ton of stress on Seattle’s bullpen.

Bryan Woo

Woo was able to give the Mariners six much-needed innings, but for the first time in his career, the Athletics’ lineup had an answer for him. They jumped on him quickly, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning of Wednesday’s game, albeit with the help of a bad call on a pitch that should have resulted in a strikeout for Rooker, who went on to drive in two on an opposite-field double to the gap the very next pitch. The A’s later played add-on with two more runs in the fourth inning, cementing Woo’s worst start of the year statistically.

Mitch Garver

Garver only appeared in one game during the series, but it was a rough one. He went 0-for-4 on Tuesday with a pair of strikeouts and an infield popup with the bases loaded and the game tied at two runs apiece. It’s a been inconsistent start to Garver’s second year in Seattle, though he’s still running a 110 wRC+ and might be in line for some more playing time out of the designated hitter spot now that Jorge Polanco has been cleared to play in the field.