The seventh inning sacrifice that ended the Oakland A’s post season hopes when the Seattle Mariners Ty France hit a fly to score Dylan Moore for the go ahead run at T Mobile Field in Seattle on Wed Sep 29, 2021 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason and Jeremiah Salomonson

The red hot Seattle Mariners won their tenth out of their last 11 games to knock the Oakland A’s out of the Wild Card race on Wednesday night with a 4-2 victory at T Mobile Field in Seattle. While the A’s were eliminated the Mariners are still in the hunt for a shot at a second Wild Card.

The Mariners Ty France got a seventh inning sacrifice fly that put the M’s in front and Seattle got an insurance run from Abraham Toro who hit a home run with two outs in the eighth inning it was Toro’s first blast since Aug 31st.

The Mariners are just a half game back of the Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card for the second spot. The Mariners have done so well in rising to the top in the Wild Card they are just 1.5 back of the New York Yankees for first in the Wild Card.

The A’s had nothing but tough luck against the Mariners and took a 12th straight loss for the Mariners it was a franchise record for the most consecutive wins against a team in their history. The loss Wednesday snaps the A’s post season appearances for the last three straight years.

The first place Houston Astros in the AL West would have clinched the West but the Mariners win held the Astros back and their magic number is down to one. The Mariners have executed so well in winning their last 10 of 11 they did it in offense to come back or take leads as France’s sacrifice fly which drove in Dylan Moore. Moore had moved to second on a JP Crawford hit and run. Toro’s two run blast put the Mariners on top for the rest of the game eliminating the A’s.

The A’s have the day off on Thursday and are in Houston to open a three game series against the Astros on Friday night for a 5:10 pm first pitch at Minute Maid Field in Houston. The A’s Sean Manaea will start Friday (10-10 ERA 3.94) the Astros have not announced a starter yet.