Miller blows comeback, Mariners walk it off

The A’s are winless since leaving Oakland for good. Does it mean the baseball gods have cursed the franchise? No, but I’m still processing their departure and pretending it means something definitely helps.

It was, however, a strong effort put forth by the green and gold. After falling behind twice in the game, the A’s battled back admirably both times but ultimately lost the game by literal inches.

The action got going in the bottom of the 4th with the Mariners lineup jumping on Joey Estes for three runs. The first came off a solo homer from Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh. Unlike the meatballs Estes was getting killed on in his last game against the Yankees, the victim this time was a change in the bottom-outside part of the zone that Raleigh was simply strong enough to pull over the fence in right field.

The A’s came back the next couple of innings with their own power showcase. Brent Rooker started with a two-run shot off rookie starter Emerson Hancock and is now one away from a nice 40 piece with a game to go.

Tyler Soderstrom followed that up with an even more impressive homer, slicing his bat at a fastball up and away that sent the ball deep over the opposite field corner. The big shot tied the game 3-3.

The Mariners stole the lead back with a Luke Raley RBI double in the bottom of the 7th, but the A’s once again refused the lay down. Losing 4-3 going into the 9th, the A’s got runners onto the corners with a couple of singles from Max Schuemann and JJ Bleday.

Down to their last out, Shea Langeliers did what he does: bangs. Facing Seattle setup man Collin Snider, who went into the at-bat with a ridiculous 1.33 ERA, Shea took 4 pitches to work a 3-1 count before seeing a beautiful middle-zone fastball that he sent out of the field and into the stands for a three-run homer. With one swing, the A’s went from the brink of losing to a two-run lead with three outs to go and All-Star Mason Miller ready to go.

Unfortunately, as ready as Miller was, Raley was even readier. Playing hero again, the first baseman swung at a pretty solid pitch — a 100 mph fastball low and in — and somehow got just enough of it to hit a two-run homer and tie the game at 6-6.

The 10th inning saw the A’s offense peter out as they got shut down for three quick outs and failed to even move the ghost runner off second. In the bottom half, after inducing a groundout that moved the Mariners’ own ghost runner to third, Scott Alexander intentionally walked Dylan Moore to hopefully set up another groundball that could lead to a double play.

He got exactly that as Justin Turner hit a soft grounder to Zack Gelof at second. However, instead of getting the safe two outs to end the inning, for no good reason, the young sophomore made a completely unforced error when he decided to challenge the runner going home. To his credit, he made a strong throw to Langeliers but the catcher just missed the swipe tag, which was confirmed upon review, allowing the winning run to score.

Even if the tag had succeeded, the inning would’ve continued and Seattle would’ve had another chance to win the game, whereas the simple and correct double play would’ve put the ball back in the A’s court. Instead, the game ended with a very preventable Mariners walkoff and leaves open the possibility of getting swept to end the season. On the bright-ish side, it’d preserve my fake post-Oakland A’s curse.