The Seattle Mariners Donavon Walton takes the Oakland A’s deep in the eighth inning as he hits one into the right field bleachers with A’s right fielder Seth Brown (15) watching it go at T Mobile Park in Seattle on Mon May 31, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s (31-25) started a six-game road trip in Seattle Monday afternoon at the T-Mobile Stadium. The A’s were hoping to snap a two-game losing streak but it was not to be as the A’s lost in extra innings at T Mobile Park in Seattle 6-5.

The Seattle Mariners (28-27) had taken two out of three from the A’s last week. Oakland’s starter, James Kaprielian, earned his second big-league win downing the M’s at the Coliseum. The M’s sent righty Logan Gilbert to the hill. Gilbert had not yet recorded his first win in the Majors.

The A’s scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning. Chad Pinder, sporting a new haircut and playing shortstop, doubled to lead off the inning. With two out, Gilbert issued a free pass to Matt Olson. Jed Lowrie followed with a ground-rule double. Pinder scored, Olson stopped at third. Gibert struck out Seth Brown for the third out. The A’s were ahead 1-0 in the third.

The M’s plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth. M’s shortstop, J.P.Crawford led off with a single. Rightfielder Jake Fraley singled to put men on at first and second with no out. Jose Godoy hit into a 3-6-1 double play.

Crawford went to third. Kaprielian had a chance to get out of the inning with no damage if he could retire the M’s DH, Jacob Nottingham. Kaprielian, who had hit Kyle Seager with a pitch in the third, hit Nottingham to put two men on with two out.

The next hitter was Donovan Walton. Walton was hitting way under the Mendoza line for the season. However, as baseball fans know, even guys with low batting averages can hit the ball out of the park. Walton sent Kaprielian’s fastball into the seats into the right-field seats make it 3-1.

Kaprielian then walked Jarred Kelenic and gave up a double to Kyle Lewis. Kelenic scored, and A’s manager Bob Melvin brought in Deolis Guerra to pitch. Guerra retired Seager for the third out. The M’s led 4-1 after four.

The A’s bullpen did a stellar job keeping the M’s off the board. Oakland plated a run in the sixth. Pinder led off the frame with his second double of the game. Matt Olson doubled to drive in Pinder to make it a 4-2 game. Guerra retired all seven batters he faced. Sergio Romo set the M’s down in order in the seventh.

Oakland tied the game in the top of the eighth. Lefty Anthony Misiewicz was on the hill for Seattle. Mark Canha reached on a walk. Matt Olson followed with a single. Canha went to third when Kelenic could not field the ball properly. Misiewicz struck out Lowrie and Brown.

M’s manager Scott Servais brought in righty J.T. Chargois to face Sean Murphy. The home plate umpire called a balk on Chargois that allowed Canha to score. Olson went to second. Murphy doubled to drive in Olson with the A’s fourth run of the game. The A’s bullpen kept the Mariners off the board the next two innings. The game ended tied at 4-4 after nine innings of play.

With the new extra-innings rules in effect in the tenth, Matt Olson was at second with no out. M’s reliever Daniel Zamora retired Lowrie and Stephen Piscotty, who was pinch-hitting for Brown. Aramis Garcia singled to drive in Olson with the A’s fifth run of the day.

The A’s brought in Lou Trivino to pitch the tenth. Jack Mayfield was on second base to start the inning. Trivino retired Kyle Seager for the first out. M’s first baseman. Ty France singled to tie the game at 5-5. J.P. Crawford hit a screamer that somehow bounced over Matt Olson’s glove to went down the right-field line for a double. France advanced to third on the play. M’s catcher Tom Murphy drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly. Seattle wins 6-5.

Game Notes and Stats- With the loss, the A’s drop to 31-25 for the season. It was their third loss in a row. The Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox in Houston and moved with 1/2 game of the lead in the American League West. The Mariners won their fifth game in a row to extend their winning streak to five. They are 28-27 for the year.

The hitting star for the A’s was Chad Pinder. Pinder had two doubles and a single Monday afternoon. Each team used six pitchers. Lou Trivino was the losing pitcher. Daniel Zamora picked up the win.

Kaprielian, who went seven innings against the M’s last week in Oakland, lasted three and 2/3rds innings Monday afternoon. He allowed four runs and five hits. He had control issues as he walked three batters and hit two. He recorded three strikeouts. M’s starter Logan Gilbert gave the M’s a quality start. He pitched six innings and gave up two runs, and allowed five hits. He struck out five and walked one.

The A’s will send Chris Bassitt to the hill Tuesday night. Bassitt shut out the Angels last week in Oakland. He had his first complete game ever. Bassitt is 5-2 with an ERA of 3.21. Lefty Marco Gonzales will be making his first start since April 27th. The game will start at 7:1- pm.

The time of the game was three hours and thirty-four minutes. Eleven thousand one hundred twelve fans were in attendance.