Sacramento A’s starter Jeffrey Springs pitches to the Seattle Mariners line up at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Fri Sep 11, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Mauricio Segura

Sacramento A’s game wrap:

Walton Sends the Green and Gold Home Happy in Ten By Mauricio Segura Donovan Walton saved the best swing for last. Seattle had taken a 5-4 lead in the top of the 10th when Julio Rodríguez singled home automatic runner Randy Arozarena. Max Muncy then began the bottom half at second base, Michael Stefanic took his place as a pinch-runner, and Walton drove a two-run homer to right field for a 6-5 Athletics walk-off win. Walton finished 3-for-5, and the homer gave him seven this season, already more than the four he hit across his first six major-league seasons combined.

Seattle struck first in the opening inning. J.P. Crawford singled, Arozarena reached on a force out and stole second, and Dominic Canzone moved him to third with a single before Cal Raleigh’s grounder brought him home. The A’s answered immediately. Henry Bolte singled and stole second, Jeff McNeil doubled him home, and Max Muncy’s infield single scored McNeil for a 2-1 lead. Bolte’s steal was his 20th, putting him among only four A’s rookies in the last 39 years to reach 20 in a season.

The Mariners tied it in the second when Josh Naylor singled, Taylor Ward drew a walk and Weston Wilson’s force out scored Naylor. Sacramento answered again in the third. McNeil singled, and Lawrence Butler followed with a two-run homer to right for a 4-2 lead. Butler had been 0-for-15 before the game, three at-bats shy of the longest hitless stretch of his career, and his blast became his 14th homer of the season.

The fourth inning supplied one of the game’s biggest defensive turns. Cole Young tripled to right with one out, then Wilson lifted a fly ball to Butler. The Athletics challenged the play at the plate, and the ruling was overturned, completing a double play from Butler to catcher Jonah Heim and erasing what would have been Seattle’s third run.

Jeffrey Springs made the lead stand through five innings, allowing two runs. In his previous start, also against Seattle, Springs threw seven scoreless innings and ended a 13-game losing streak that had stretched from April into late August. He did not get a decision here, but he left with the Athletics ahead 4-2.

That advantage disappeared in the sixth. Josh Naylor reached on Scott Blewett’s fielding error, and pinch-hitter Lazaro Montes tied the game with a two-run homer to right-center. From there, both teams kept finding traffic without finding the run that would separate them. Zack Gelof and Butler singled in the seventh before Seattle reliever Seranthony Domínguez escaped. Jonah Heim singled in the eighth, Denzel Clarke ran for him and moved to second on a passed ball, but Henry Bolte grounded out to end the inning. Butler doubled with two outs in the ninth and was stranded.

Seattle finally broke the tie in the 10th. Arozarena began at second, moved to third on Raleigh’s groundout and scored when Rodríguez singled to center. Naylor followed with another single and stole second, but Clarke caught Montes’ liner to center to keep the deficit at one.

That was all Walton needed. Claimed off waivers from the Angels in July, he had already hit six homers in 77 games after totaling four in his first six big-league seasons. His third hit of the game ended it, gave the Athletics their seventh win in nine games and moved them ahead of Seattle 6-5 in the season series.

Game 2 brings a fresh pitching contrast, with Athletics left-hander Gage Jump (6-10, 5.12 ERA, 106 strikeouts) facing Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo (11-9, 4.03 ERA, 158 strikeouts), with first pitch set for 6:40 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.