:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64682321/usa_today_13012911.0.jpg)
And this was such a promising game, too. Staked early to a 2-0 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly by Ramon Laureano and a home run by Matt Olson (his 18th of the year, which is incredible considering his missed time and concerns about his power), Chris Bassitt could have been okay; he was through four anyway, but he could not survive the fourth inning. Thanks to a single, homerun and a single, homerun, the Mariners quickly flipped the game from a 2-0 deficit to a 4-2 lead and never looked back, scoring two more runs just to add on. Ramon Laureano hit a homerun in the ninth to close the gap to 6-3, but the game would end there.
The first inning was more promising than it ended up, perhaps, as the A’s loaded the bases with one out. After Semien started the game with a lineout, Matt Chapman singled, Matt Olson singled and Khris Davis walked. Ramon Laureano scored the A’s first run with his subsequent sacrifice fly, but Chad Pinder struck out to end the inning.
The A’s doubled the lead in the third as Matt Olson hit his 18th of the season, an incredible feat considering how much time he missed and the nature of his injury. It’s awesome.
The two singles and two homeruns by the Mariners stunned the threads and A’s fans everywhere, and they never really could recover; it didn’t help that Wei-Chung Wang walked the bases loaded, walked in a run, and allowed a sacrifice fly to close Bassitt’s night, not great, but probably not 6ERs worth, either.
Ramon Laureano, per usual lately, had a heck of a night at the plate (two for three, a sac fly, a single, and a homerun and two RBI), but he was not helped by fan not-favorites-tonight Chad Pinder and Franklin Barreto. Much like last night, the A’s only collected six hits, but tonight, they were only able to score three runs, and it wasn’t enough to offset Bassitt and Wang.
It just wasn’t meant to be tonight, but the A’s have the chance to take the series tomorrow; Daniel Mengden against Matt Carasiti (the opener). We’ll see you back here at 1:05.
