by Jerry Feitelberg

AP photo: The Seattle Mariners Dae-Ho Lee is congratulated by teammates Leonys Martin (12) and right Kyle Seager after hitting a two run home run in the seventh inning off A’s pitcher John Axford

OAKLAND–The A’s and Mariners played a wild and woolly game Wednesday afternoon. The difference in the game was the Mariner bullpen as they kept the A’s from scoring after the fifth inning and allowed their offense to come back from a four-run deficit to win 9-8. The A’s starter Sean Manaea pitched well for the first four and 2/3rds innings. Things fell apart for him when the Mariners scored four times to take a 4-2 lead in the middle of the fifth. The A’s, however, scored six times in the fifth to take the lead 8-4, and that put Manaea in position to receive credit for his first win in the Major Leagues.  The A’s were able to send their nemesis, Felix Hernandez to the showers in the fifth. Hernandez pitch four-plus innings and he was on the hook to take the loss if the A’s could hold the lead. They didn’t. The A’s bullpen, so good so far this season, failed. Ryan Dull took over for Manaea in the sixth, and he went 2/3rds of an inning, allowing two runs, including a solo home run to Dae-Ho Lee. Sean Doolittle finished the sixth for the A’s but ran into trouble in the top of the seventh. Doolittle gave up a walk and a wild pitch to put a man in scoring position. The one hit Doolittle allowed drove in the run. John Axford replaced Doolittle and gave up a two-run dinger to Dae-Ho Lee. Axford took the loss.

The A’s shortstop, Marcus Semien, gave the Green and Gold the early lead when he hit a solo home run into the left-field seats over the out-of-town scoreboard. For Semien, it was his seventh of the year, and he leads the club in that department.

The A’s scored another run in the bottom of the fourth. Josh Reddick and Khris Davis singled to start the inning. They advanced to second and third when Stephen Vogt hit a swinging bunt. Designated hitter Billy Butler drove in Reddick on a fielder’s choice. The A’s lead 2-0 after four.

The Mariners scored four runs in the top of the fifth. Sean Manaea was pitching very well up to this point in the game. He retired the first two hitters in the inning but the Seattle hitters were able to get five straight hits to take the lead 4-2. Nori Aoki singled to get the rally started. shortstop Ketel Marte doubled to left to drive in Aoki. Robinson Cano singled to drive in Marte to tie the game. Seattle DH Nelson Cruz hit a monster homer into the second deck of bleachers in centerfield that gave the Mariners the lead. The A’s, however, came back in their half of the fifth and scored six times The A’s sent eleven men to the plate. They had five hits and the Mariners made two errors that allowed the A’s to send Hernandez to the showers. The A’s lead 8-4 after five.

The Mariners made it an 8-6 game in the sixth. Ryan Dull replaced Sean Manaea on the mound. Mariner first baseman Dae-Ho Lee hit his third homerun of the year to make it 8-5. Leonys Martin singled, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Ketel Marte doubled to drive in Martin with the sixth run of the game Seattle.

Sean Doolittle replaced Ryan Dull on the mound for Oakland. Doolittle walked Nelson Cruz to start the seventh inning. Franklin Gutierrez reached first on a fielder’s choice. Gutierrez went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Kyle Seager. A’s Manager brought in John Axford to pitch. Axford retired Chris Iannetta for the second out.Dae-Ho Lee put the Mariners back in the lead when he hit his second home run of the game with a man on board. Seattle leads 9-8 as the fans rise for the seventh inning stretch.

Game Notes –  The A’s went down to their fourth consecutive loss and are winless in May.  Sean Manaea is 0-0 with a 7.20 ERA since coming up to Oakland. The Mariners recorded their first sweep of the season and are 11-4 in their last fifteen games. King Felix went four innings, his shortest outing of the season and the shortest against Oakland since May 16th, 2006. Felix is 22-8 lifetime against Oakland.

The line score for Seattle was 9runs, sixteen hits, and two errors. The A’s had eight runs, eleven hits and they also made two errors.

Stephen Vogt had this to say about the A’s effort Wednesday after the game “You said it, I mean we won the first two games and played really goodbaseball.I think that’s the frustrating part, losing three one-run
games on the homestand. That was very frustrating. Obviously, we’re
not happy with the way we’re playing at home.  We know we need to get
better and the fans deserve better. And we need to do that but that
being said we just went through a 16 game stretch without an off-day
with some tough travel, so an off-day tomorrow would be good for us
going into this road trip” said Vogt

The A’s are off on Thursday as they are heading to Baltimore to play the Orioles. The Orioles have another powerful lineup and are led by Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, and the other Chris Davis. Rich Hill will go for Oakland and Baltimore will counter with Ubaldo Jimenez.

Time of game was three hours and ten minutes, and 16,328 fans watched the A’s lose.