> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Losing Streak Dies with Road Trip, Mariners Open Homestand on 3-2 Victory vs. A’s - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/losing-streak-road-trip-seattle-mariners-athletics-open-homestand/ - Published: 2025-08-23T06:37:59.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T05:58:35.000Z - Author: Callaghan Bluechel - Tags: Analysis, Mariners, Bryan Woo, Matt Brash, Gabe Speier, Andres Munoz, Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco [Embed from Getty Images](http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/2231587829?ref=emeraldcityspectrum.com) SEATTLE, Wash. — Leaving the rainy east coast to go back to sunny Seattle has its benefits. That might sound funny to those few readers who aren’t familiar with PNW climate patterns, but August in Seattle contains consistently clear crow-paths. And for the Mariners, just as the drizzling skies did flying back home, a five-game losing streak came to an end Friday night against the cellar-dwelling Athletics, who made things interesting in the final inning but could not overcome another deep gem from Bryan Woo and some timely solo home runs that formed all of Seattle’s offense in a 3-2 victory at T-Mobile Park. ### Bats Hitless, Walk-less Through Four It still wasn’t exactly a ticker-tape parade for Seattle’s bats, despite the win. Friday marked the second time in a few games the Mariners faced a recently called-up rookie and looked completely lost for a good chunk of the matchup. Granted, this was a guy who came into the game already dealing over his first three outings (two of them starts), with a 1.86 ERA through 9 ⅔ previous innings of work. But for the first four innings, they didn’t have a single baserunner. Now, Luis Morales was finding a lot of the strike zone, but a lot of the middle of the strike zone, too—but it served in Morales’ favor, as the Mariners were taking a lot of early strikes and then failing to get much threatening contact with unfavorable counts. As had happened a lot on the road trip, the opposing pitcher was able to get into a groove against a relatively passive and predictable Mariners offense. ### Woo Extends Six-Plus Streak to 25 Games Once again, Woo put in good work on the mound for the Seattle Mariners, going seven innings of seven-strikeout, two-walk ball on 88 total pitches, 57 of them strikes. And he picked up the win, his 11th victory of the 2025 season. The stuff was where he excelled in this game, as the velocities on both his fastballs were up by around one mile per hour. Also elevated were the spin rates, over 2400 rotations per minute on both types of heaters. The four-seamer had an extra three inches of run compared to Woo’s season average. All this meant that balls were missing the Athletics’ bats, and even when the visitors got contact, it was soft and easily fieldable—the average exit velocity against Woo on Friday was just 81.8 miles an hour. However, he did make some down-the-middle mistake pitches. Only one came back to bite him, a 2-2 fastball in the top of the first straight down the pipe to Brent Rooker, who seared a low line drive well over the left center field wall for a go-ahead bomb. It was the only hit the Athletics would get off of the Mariners’ starter. Another mistake in the fourth inning very nearly expanded the visiting lead to three runs, but Lawrence Butler got a hair under the ball and sent a harmless inning-ending flyout with a man on second. Other than that, Woo was lights-out. Through four innings, Woo had thrown just 57 pitches. The fifth took his count up to 70, but it could have shot up further had Eugenio Suárez not helped him out at third. With two outs and nobody on, Brett Harris dribbled a ball towards the third base side of the infield, giving the Athletics’ third baseman a very good shot at reaching before any throw could arrive. But Suárez made an excellent bare-handed scoop and hurled a fastball to first to get the out. Woo netted two punchouts in the sixth to get two thirds of the way through the ballgame for the 25th straight time in 2025—and any pitcher who gets that kind of consistency is going to be the stalwart base of their pitching staff. On 84 pitches, Dan Wilson sent him back out for the seventh inning, where Cole Young led off with an error and then made up for it by starting the inning-ending double play. ### Senior-Junior Crash Cousin Geno When a pitcher breezes down the order the first time through, you make note he’s having a good day. The pitch count stays low, you start thinking about eight, maybe nine innings. I’m personally a sucker for a complete game shutout: no matter who throws it, it’s just one of the most beautiful sights to see on the diamond, an unfortunate rarity in today’s game. But when there hasn’t been a baserunner and the pitcher is still shoving during the fifth inning, the word *perfect game*— or at least *no-hitter—*starts to appear in your head. Maybe just fleetingly, but you take note, even if one of baseball’s most widespread superstitions prevents you from voicing it out loud. It was just about the time when I took note that the magic fell away for Athletics starter Luis Morales. He got the first out of the inning, but as it turned out, Eugenio Suárez wasn’t content with just helping Woo out on the mound. Morales’ first two deliveries were balls, the next two dotted strikes on the low and outside corner. Suárez got away with taking a pitch on the corner up and away, as what would have been strike three became ball three. Morales opted for the slider low and away, but it didn’t slide as much as he hoped. The ball kept a straighter course and ended up well on the plate. Suárez got all of the barrel on the ball, blasting a line drive down the line in left field and over the wall for a game-tying home run. It was Suárez’ 40th of the season, joining Cal Raleigh in 2025’s 40-homer club and making the Seattle Mariners the first team to have multiple people over 40 home runs in the big leagues this year. That isn’t uncommon for a team to have multiple 40-homer guys in a year, as one team has done it every year but once in the 2020s (not counting the COVID-shortened 2020 season). The feat was accomplished in 2024 by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto of the New York Yankees, the 2023 Braves had three guys with 40 or more home runs (Matt Olson, Ronald Acuña Jr, and Marcell Ozuna), and the 2021 Toronto Blue Jays also had multiple (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Marcus Semien). Before that, you have to go back to 2015, where two franchises had pairs of 40-homer hitters: the Blue Jays (Josh Donaldson and José Bautista) and the Angels (Mike Trout and Albert Pujols). ### Naylor Blasts 100th Career Shot, Polanco Adds Insurance Seattle was tied with the A’s after Suárez’ fifth-inning shot, and Morales finished the sixth but went no further. All in all, however, the visiting starter hurled a great game and took advantage of the Mariners’ weakness for first pitch strikes. But with Elvis Alvarado coming on for the seventh, the M’s had just enough of a chance of pace to get a little bit more production. With one away and Josh Naylor at the plate, Alvarado tossed a first-pitch slider very much in the wrong spot. Naylor tattooed the hanging breaking ball and nonchalantly tossed his bat while glancing to the Mariners’ dugout. It was Naylor’s 100th career home run. Two batters later, Jorge Polanco added on. Unlike with Naylor, it wasn’t early in the at-bat, but rather on a 2-2 100.7 mile an hour fastball located on the inside corner but belt-high. Polanco put a strong, quick swing on the ball and it lofted over to right field. JJ Bleday drifted back, got a beat on the ball, and jumped—but it was about two feet out of his reach. ### Muñoz Gets Nail-Biting 30th Save Dan Wilson pulled Woo after seven complete innings. With a two-run lead, he felt more than comfortable going to his bullpen, and so Matt Brash walked out to the hill to begin the eighth inning. The first two men went down quickly, but Brett Harris whacked a double into the gap in right center field to bring up Nick Kurtz as the potential game-tying run. Here was a situation where Wilson’s propensity for lefty-righty matchups came in handy. Coming into the game, the left-handed Kurtz had a .363 batting average and 1.213 OPS against right-handed pitchers—but a .193 average and .642 OPS against lefties. The decision was clear, and southpaw Gabe Speier came in from the bullpen. With a 1-2 count, Speier went with what might be considered the Old Faithful of the left-on-left arsenal: the low and away slider. It worked like a charm, Kurtz struck out, and the inning was over with Seattle’s two-run lead intact. The ninth was less easy for Seattle. The scorcher-spewing Andrés Muñoz went out looking for his 30th save of the season, but with one out, things looked to be on the verge of falling apart. Three straight Athletics—Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, and Jacob Wilson—chopped ground balls through the infield to halve the Seattle lead and put runners on first and second before Lawrence Butler walked the bases loaded. Darell Hernaiz lifted an 0-2 hanging slider to shallow center field. It was an easy second out for Julio Rodriguez, but he needed to fire home in short order to keep Soderstrom from tying the game. The visiting runner bolted on the catch, but as he saw Rodriguez’ throw quickly soar home, he changed his mind and scampered back to the bag. JJ Bleday made much less of a threat, striking out on three pitches to complete Muñoz’ 30th save. Muñoz is the fourth pitcher this season to reach the 30 mark, joining the Royals’ Carlos Estévez, the Padres’ Robert Suarez, and the Brewers’ Trevor Megill. More importantly for Dan Wilson and Seattle, the Mariners came away with the 3-2 victory. ### On Deck Friday’s win moves the M’s to 69-60 and gives them an extra game of space over the Kansas City Royals, who are now three games back of Seattle for the third wild card. The three wild card holders are still in a tight contest, as the Red Sox sit a half game ahead of the M’s while the Yankees are a full game up. And in the AL West, the Mariners are two games back of the Astros. Saturday and Sunday will each see a Mariners starter looking to have a bounceback outing - first George Kirby, then Logan Gilbert - after rough road trip starts during Seattle’s now-broken five-game losing streak.