Oakland Athletics’ Ryan Noda walks away after striking out against Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Bryce Miller during the first inning at the T Mobile in Seattle on Wed May 24, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Oakland A’s woes continued once again on Wednesday night. The Seattle Mariners (25-24) sent the beleaguered team down to the seventh consecutive loss by a score of 6-1. The A’s are now 10-41 for 2023. The A’s needs to play better. The starting rotation has an earned run average of 7.5 runs per game.

Teams can only win games with good pitching. A’s manager, to his credit, has his players giving 100%. There is no quit on the team, but the A’s do not have the talent to win. It’s a very sad situation. The A’s coaching staff hopes things will turn around. Oakland has yet to have a one-game losing streak this year. As the losses pile up, players must wonder when things will change. They may, but it appears hopeless at this point in the season.

The A’s played a bullpen game Wednesday night. Reliever Austin Pruitt started the first inning and allowed one hit. Lefty Ken Waldichuk was next as he was brought in to pitch to start the second inning. The A’s lefty gave up three hits to the M’s in the second inning and struck out the side in the third, but things went south in the bottom of the fourth.

The Mariners put five runs on the board. M’s catcher Cal Raleigh started the rally. Waldichuk struck out Teoscar Hernandez for the first out. Waldichuk walked Jose Caballero, sending Raleigh to second. A.J. Pollock singled to load the bases. Sam Haggerty, playing first base instead of the injured Ty France, doubled to drive in two. Pollock stopped at third. J.P. Crawford singled to drive in Pollock with the M’s third run.

Julio Rodriguez singled to make it 4-0. The bases remained loaded. Waldichuk walked Eugenio Suarez to force in the fifth run of the inning. A’s manager replaced Waldichuk with Lucas Erceg. The M’s sent eleven men to the plate in the fourth, leading 5-0.

The A’s put a run on the board in the top of the seventh. JJ Bleday led off the frame with a single. Ramon Laureano struck out. Jace Peterson singled, sending Bleday to second. Aledmys Diaz doubled down the left-field line to drive in Bleday with the A’s first run.

The Mariners’ Teoscar Hernandez, 0-for-11 in the series with the A’s, led off the bottom of the seventh with his ninth big fly of 2023. A’s reliever Sam Long settled down and retired the next three hitters to end the seventh. The Mariners now lead 6-1.

The Mariners bullpen kept the A’s scoreless in the eighth and ninth to secure the win for Seattle. The Mariners beat the A’s 6-1.

Game Notes- The A’s lost for the seventh time in a row and the ninth time in the last ten games. The hapless A’s now own baseball’s worst record, 10-41. The Mariners are now 25-24.

The line for Oakland was one run, seven hits, and no errors. Seattle’s line was six runs, 11 hits, and no errors.

Ken Waldichuk was the losing pitcher. He is now 1-4 with an astronomical 7.40 ERA. The Winning pitcher was Bryce Miller. Miller improved to 3-1.

The Mariners have beaten the a’s all six games played in 2023. The M’s are 29-8 in the last 37 games between the two teams.

The only stats of note for Oakland belonged to Esteury Ruiz. Ruiz leads Major League baseball in two categories. Ruiz has the most stolen base with 26 and has been hit with a pitch 11 times. Ruiz had his eight-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday night as he went 0-for-three.

The A’s wrap up the four-game series Thursday night in Seattle. Left J.P. Sears (0-3 ERA 4.99) will pitch for Oakland. Logan Gilbert (2-2 ERA 3.81) will be on the hill for Seattle. The game will start at 6:40m pm PT.