Seattle Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, right, gets a forearm bash by Luis Torrens (22) as Raleigh comes home to score after hitting a two run homer against the Oakland A’s in the second inning at T Mobile Field in Seattle on Fri Jul 23, 2021 (AP News photo)

Oakland Loses Game Two To Seatle 4-3

By Barbara Mason

Friday evening the Oakland A’s (56-43) and the Seattle Mariners (52-46) clashed in Game Two of the series. Thursday’s game saw a slow start for both teams offensively but Oakland’s Sean Manaea had a spectacular game on the mound with a record 13 strikeouts in seven innings. This was probably his best outing this season which is saying a lot. He has been very good this season.

Ramon Laureano drove in two runs in the 4-1 win against the Mariners. For awhile it looked as if the A’s would win the game without a single home run but in the seventh inning Sean Murphy hit one out of the park. Mark Canha had a couple of hits after the long layoff due to injury. He got back on task in record time.

Friday night the teams were back at it with Oakland looking for another win. On the mound for Oakland was Frankie Montas and for Seattle Yusei Kikuchi.

It was a rough second inning for Montas. Seattle’s Cal Raleigh homered with a runner on base to take an early 2-0 lead. The very next at bat was Luis Torrens who sent one out of the park and just like that the Mariners were cruising with a 3-0 lead. The next three batters struck out swinging to end a very costly inning for the A’s as the M’s made it stand up for a 4-3 win at T Mobile Field in Seattle.

Oakland has been very good on the road and this visit to Seattle was no exception. In the third inning Matt Chapman homered and not to be outdone Matt Olson homered in the fourth inning. Mark Canha continued his offensive excellence hitting a double in the fifth inning to score Wilson and the A’s had tied up this game 3-3.

Oakland had a great opportunity in the seventh inning when they loaded the bases but Elvis Andrus struck out to put an end to taking the lead in this game for the moment. The A’s are leaving the bases loaded and coming up empty far to often this season.

Diekman came in to relieve Montas in the seventh inning. It was an absolute disaster. Two stolen bases and two wild pitches by Diekman resulted in a run for Seattle by Dylan Moore who easily scored on one of those pitches. Seattle had taken back the lead 4-3. Diekman threw a third wild pitch in the inning. The A’s finally got out of the seventh but had some work to do if they wanted to win this game. The Astros had won earlier and Oakland needed this win to keep pace with Houston.

Seattle really put on the pressure in the eighth inning with runners on first and second and only one out. Petit had come in to relieve Diekman. Another wild pitch and a tough night for Sean Murphy. There were five wild pitches in this game for the A’s. Oakland got out of the eighth inning unscathed and had one more shot in the ninth inning.

An uneventful ninth inning for the A’s resulted in a Seattle win 4-3. Murphy flied out, Chapman walked, Brown struck out and Kemp also struck out. Game over.

So the loaded bases in the seventh inning came back to bite Oakland big time and coupled with the horrific seventh inning this game was one to forget.

Oakland will try to put this behind them and get back on track in Game Three. First pitch will again be at 7:10.