Sacramento A’s reliever Hogan Harris (36) pitches to the Seattle Mariners line up in the bottom of the ninth inning at T Mobile Field Seattle on Thu Sep 3, 2026 (AP News photo)

Sacramento A’s game wrap:

By Mauricio Segura

The Sacramento Athletics watched a one-run lead disappear almost as quickly as they built it, then chipped away until the Seattle Mariners was the team chasing the scoreboard. Zack Gelof opened the scoring with a solo homer to right-center, and the Green and Gold eventually turned an early two-run deficit into a 7-4 victory behind Lawrence Butler’s two-run single in the fifth and a pitching staff that struck out 18 Mariners.

Seattle answered Gelof’s homer with three runs in the bottom of the first. Randy Arozarena drew a walk and stole second before Julio Rodríguez doubled him home. Cal Raleigh followed with a ground-ball single to right that scored Rodríguez, and Lazaro Montes added a two-out RBI single to left for a 3-1 lead. Jack Perkins finally escaped by striking out Brock Rodden with the bases loaded.

The A’s cut the margin to 3-2 in the second after Jeff McNeil walked, Michael Stefanic singled and Brian Serven singled to load the bases. Alika Williams then grounded into a double play that scored McNeil. The Athletics challenged the play, but the call was upheld.

Perkins kept Seattle scoreless over the next two innings and finished with seven strikeouts in three innings. His previous three career appearances against the Mariners had all been in relief, and he had not issued a walk in 8.2 innings against them before this game. This time he issued five, yet kept the A’s close after the rough first inning.

The game swung in the fifth. Henry Bolte drew a one-out walk, Gelof singled him to third, then stole second. Butler followed with a two-out single to center that scored both runners and put the A’s ahead 4-3. Butler began play with an 11-game hitting streak, tied for the longest active run in the majors, and his third-inning single had already pushed that streak to 12 games. Bolte also stayed hot after recording the first two-homer game of his career in the previous contest.

Donovan Walton added another run in the sixth, batting for Stefanic and sending a solo homer to right-center. A hit-by-pitch to Serven and an on-field delay followed, and Mariners manager Dan Wilson was ejected by home-plate umpire James Hoye. Seattle answered in the bottom half when Arozarena doubled, Dominic Canzone singled and Rodríguez brought Arozarena home on a force-play grounder. Rodríguez also stole second in that inning, one of his three steals in the game.

The Athletics never gave Seattle the tying run. Scott Blewett worked two scoreless innings after Perkins and struck out four. Chris Roycroft surrendered Seattle’s fourth run, but Luis Medina followed with three strikeouts while recording four outs, and Hogan Harris struck out two in a scoreless ninth. The staff’s 18 strikeouts were spread across five pitchers, with Perkins supplying seven of them.

The A’s added breathing room in the eighth. McNeil singled and Walton walked before Max Muncy lined an RBI single to left, scoring McNeil for a 6-4 lead. Bolte then reached on an infield single after an umpire review overturned the original call. In the ninth, Jonah Heim doubled and McNeil doubled him home to finish the scoring. McNeil began the game batting .348 since the All-Star break, third best in the majors, and his two-hit performance kept that second-half surge moving.

Gelof’s first-inning homer was his 15th of the season, and his fifth-inning steal gave him 11 stolen bases. Butler finished with two hits and two RBI, while Bolte reached base three times with two singles and a walk. The A’s began the game 25-58 against Seattle since 2021 and had lost five straight season series to the Mariners, making this a useful step toward changing a matchup that has treated them poorly for years.

Friday’s second game starters for Sacramento’s RHP Kade Morris (0-1 ERA 9.82, 10 strikeouts) for Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert (11-8, 3.42 ERA, 166 strikeouts), first pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. Pacific.

Costa Rican-born Mauricio Segura has been covering sports in the Bay Area since 2001 for a variety of magazines and newspapers, as well as his own publication, Golden Bay Times.

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