Game #78: A’s score some runs but not quite enough

The Oakland A’s lost again.

They scored some runs this time! Six of them! But it wasn’t quite enough, as they dropped an 8-6 decision to the Seattle Mariners on Thursday to open a long series at T-Mobile Park.

*** Click here to revisit tonight’s Game Thread! ***

The Mariners led for most of the evening, but there were some moments when the A’s made things interesting. After going down 4-1 early, the green-and-gold tied it up in the 5th inning with a clutch homer! But then Seattle scored four more in the bottom of the frame to retake the lead. Oakland picked up a run in each of the 8th and 9th innings to narrow the gap, but in the end they were doomed by their combined 17 runners left on base.

Let’s check out some highlights! The A’s first run came on a homer by Elvis Andrus, which tied the game in the 3rd inning.

Seattle rebuilt their lead, but Oakland matched them again, this time on a three-run dinger by Ramon Laureano.

The tie didn’t last long, as the Mariners soon pushed the score to 8-4 in the bottom of the 5th. In the 8th inning, Sheldon Neuse chipped in an RBI single.

And then Laureano went yard again, his second homer tonight, albeit with nobody on base this time.

Well, there should have been somebody on for that last dinger, but Tony Kemp was robbed of a walk by a ludicrously huge strike zone. Even more bizarre is that these were somewhat consistent calls by the umpire, and while consistency is the top priority, it does have its limits if you’re wrong by this much. (Look at Pitch #7 in the chart.)

(It looked every bit as ridiculous in real life.)

That missed call probably didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but when the team is already the worst in the majors, it just feels like an extra kick when you’re down.

On the other side of the ball, rookie pitcher Adrian Martinez made his second career MLB start. Unfortunately this outing didn’t go as well as his scoreless debut in May.

• Martinez: 4⅔ ip, 7 runs, 3 Ks, 2 BB, 2 HR, 7 hits, 83 pitches

Despite the loss, it’s still encouraging to see Oakland’s lineup bang out a half-dozen runs and 11 hits, including three dingers. Even some of their outs were loud! Let’s see if they bring their bats again tomorrow.