> ## 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. # Mariners Finish Bad Road Trip with 5-4 Loss to A’s - URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/mariners-finish-bad-road-trip-with-5-4-loss-to-as/ - Published: 2025-07-31T06:29:50.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T05:58:52.000Z - Author: Callaghan Bluechel - Tags: Analysis, Mariners, Bryan Woo, Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Julio Rodriguez, Josh Naylor, Jorge Polanco, Randy Arozarena, Mitch Garver, Dominic Canzone WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – An ugly road trip ended with a slightly less-ugly loss on Wednesday as the Seattle Mariners couldn’t contain the Athletics’ home run ball. Bryan Woo uncharacteristically surrendered four big flies to the now-Sacramento A’s, who came away with a series win against a Mariners team in a tight playoff brawl. Despite getting only four hits all game, the offense managed to put up a decent final tally on the scoreboard, notching four runs scored as Seattle lost 5-4\. Lady Luck once again held the Mariners in disfavor, with a couple key plays going the Athletics’ way that contained a budding Seattle comeback enough for the home crew to hold on. ### A’s Plate Two in First It’s the little things that decide baseball games. The Mariners had slip-ups on the little things in the first inning that ended up adding an extra run to the Athletics’ tally. Although Bryan Woo got the first two out easily, Brent Rooker got a hold of a 2-1 fastball on the outside part of the plate and promptly crushed it over the center field wall. It was now a tied game in Sacramento. Woo avoided the four-seamer for the rest of the inning, but his struggles continued. Shea Langeliers blooped a ball into right on the next pitch. There was a seeming miscommunication between Naylor and Canzone; the new first baseman yielded to Canzone, who was probably further from the eventual drop spot. But it would have been an extremely difficult play for Naylor even if he did go for it. But Woo put nothing into trying to keep Shea Langeliers – whose sprint speed is 81st percentile in MLB – from stealing second and getting into scoring position. Langeliers bolted immediately and got to second. This ended up having big consequences. Woo left a 2-1 sinker out over the plate to Tyler Soderstrom, who shot the ball down the left field line. Soderstrom’s double easily scored Langeliers and gave the Athletics a lead they would not lose for the rest of the game. ### Woo Burned on Beach Balls Bryan Woo pitched decently for much of the rest of the game, but there were more times when he left a pitch over the heart of the plate and the Athletics punished him for it. Miguel Andujar was the next man to expand the A’s lead, doing so in the fourth. Woo gifted Andujar a 2-1 sinker out over the plate and Andujar torched a screaming liner down the left field line and over the fence. An inning later, it was Darell Hernaiz putting one on the board for the home team. This time, Woo grooved a slider right down the middle and Hernaiz – who previously had zero big flies all year and just one in his career – put nothing but wood on the ball. 106.8 miles per hour off the bat and 410 feet. The Athletics – and Andujar – weren’t done taking advantage of grooved pitches. With Woo on just 75 pitches going into the seventh, Wilson sent him back out to try and get another inning of work from the battered M’s starter. Instead, Woo left an 0-1 four-seamer right down the pipe. Andujar launched it out to deep left center for the Athletics’ fifth run of the game. This is a tendency that can sometimes bedevil strike-zone pounders throughout the league – trying to get a bunch of free strikes on some balls over the plate. Woo was falling into that habit a fair few times today and definitely got burned for it. A single, a bunt, and another single later, Mariner manager Dan Wilson pulled Woo out of the game. Seattle’s starter went 6 ⅓ innings, gave up eight hits, five runs (all earned), struck out six, and walked one. But one number stands out: four home runs given up. ### Speier Brigade, Bazardo Do Job Gabe Speier was one Mariner who did his job impeccably on Wednesday. With two men on and one man out, Speier took a situation that had the potential to get really ugly and he completely defused it, striking out Lawrence Butler and Nick Kurtz on just seven pitches to get the final two outs. Eduard Bazardo excelled in the eighth like he has all season, containing a leadoff single by Rooker to keep the game close with three outs to go for the Seattle Mariners offense. For a team that often relies on its bullpen, having these spotless outings from the relievers is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately for Seattle, the rest of the team couldn’t quite get it done. ### Longballs Make it Interesting In a story that has been very familiar to the Mariners, all of the runs on Wednesday came on the home run. What has not been very familiar these last few games is the level of fight the team showed when down a few runs. The mark of a true contender is to always be in the game no matter the deficit, and that hasn’t been true for the Mariners recently. But it was a little true on Wednesday. Despite the end result still being a loss, it was the first game in a while where the Mariners went down early and put together some sort of comeback effort. The Mariners had a lead for four total outs in this game, with Seattle’s first home run coming off the bat of Julio Rodriguez, one of two hits for the Mariners’ center fielder. Since July 11, Rodriguez is slashing .333/.389/.790 with eight home runs. From the second through the sixth, however, the M’s did not record a single hit. The only runner that reached scoring position in that timeframe (and the only runner to reach scoring position all game, funnily enough) was Ben Williamson, who walked in the sixth inning and got to second on a balk by A’s starter Jeffrey Springs. In the top of the seventh, with Seattle down 4-1, Josh Naylor drew a one-out walk and Jorge Polanco launched an 0-1 fastball high into the Sacramento night. All of a sudden, the Mariners were right back in the ballgame. There was, alas, just one more run in the tank for the Mariners. It was in the ninth inning with one out. Randy Arozarena took advantage of a grooved sweeper out over the zone by right-hander Jack Perkins and tattooed it over the left field wall. But one run was not enough by then. The A’s had tallied their fifth and the M’s were now down 5-4\. Two batters later, Polanco rolled over a ball to Nick Kurtz at first base and the Mariners dropped their second straight. ### Two Game-Changing Seventh Inning Plays In a game of inches, it was about a few inches that saved the game for the A’s. Mitch Garver, up right after Polanco’s seventh-inning blast, scorched a grounder into the left side hole. This was a case where the third baseman had to make the play; the shortstop would have had too long a throw with bad momentum in order to nab Garver at first. Andujar got his glove on it and made the play. Three inches further out from his glove and Garver would have been standing on first. Two pitches later, A’s reliever Justin Sterner hung a sweeper right down the middle for Dominic Canzone. Seattle’s right fielder cracked the ball hard and high in the air – a little too high. A’s center fielder Lawrence Butler drifted back to a short right center field wall. In T-Mobile, this would have been an unremarkable routine flyout. But in Sutter Field, its trajectory would have taken it over the wall. Yet here’s the bizarre rub of this play: it was a *routine robbed homer*. The wall in that part of Sutter Field is low enough that Butler didn’t have to leap or time any jump; rather, he just had to simply walk over, reach his hand up, and catch the ball. There happened to be a wall under his glove, but it wasn’t an especially difficult play, especially for a major leaguer. If Canzone’s bat had been a few millimeters higher as he swung it through the zone, the ball would have flown at a lower angle and gone well over the wall for a game-tying shot. Had Garver got on earlier, it would have given Seattle the lead. Such is the way the game of inches goes. ### The Big News Ultimately, the Seattle Mariners’ loss to the Athletics was not Wednesday’s biggest news in Mariner-world. That would be the Mariners trading for third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who has lit up the National League with 36 home runs and a .896 OPS. This is the second time Seattle has traded for Suárez and the third time the Mariners have been involved in a trade containing Suárez. ### Could Not Come At A Better Time Seattle needs the hitting prowess of Eugenio Suárez and they need it yesterday. With today’s results all added in, the Mariners (57-52) are tied with the Rangers (57-52) for the third wild card spot. Both AL West teams are one and a half back of the Red Sox and two and a half back of the Yankees while trailing the AL West-leading Astros by five games. And the math isn’t in the Mariners’ favor among those teams: Seattle (+16) has a far worse run differential than the Rangers (+72), Red Sox (+68), Yankees (+96). The Rays, who are three games back of the M’s and Rangers, have a +53 run differential. It’s a good predictive measure to show that the Mariners need more firepower if they want to play with the big boys. This is on both sides of the ball: Seattle is sixth in the AL in runs scored at 492 and eighth in runs against with 476\. Creating an elite offense and improving the pitching results are both ways of creating way more runs than you give up. We’ll see if this move gets the M’s out of their recent slump; after all, this team just dropped four of seven to the Angels and Athletics. Seattle needs to break their skid as soon as they possibly can. On Thursday, a long homestand begins with a four-game set against the Texas Rangers, the very team that is tied with the Mariners in the standings. A sweep would bury the losing team; a series win would put some good distance between the victor and vanquished; a split would leave us all with a cliffhanger.