Eugenio Suarez of the Seattle Mariners hits one of his two home runs against the Oakland A’s at the Coliseum this one coming in the top of the sixth on Fri Aug 19, 2022 (AP News photo)
Seattle (66-54). 10 13. 1
Oakland (43-77). 2. 6. 2
Friday, August 19, 2022
By Lewis Rubman
OAKLAND–On his return from the Soviet Union in 1919, San Francisco born muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens proclaimed, “I have seen the future, and it works.”
The Oakland A’s returned last night from Texas, where we saw a glimpse of their future. Newcomers David MacKinnon and Shea Langeliers made their Athletics debut in Arlington during the team’s recent series against the Rangers, in which each team won two games.
MacKinnon, who had hit .189 in 37 at bats with the Angels, went 0 for 5 in his two games for Oakland, while Langeliers went 3 for 12 in his three with the Athletics.
26 rookies have played for the Athletics so far this season; with the addition of right handed pitcher Norge Ruíz, promoted today from Las Vegas, there currently are 15 of them on the roster. Three days ago, the A’s had four first year players in their batting order plus one, JP Sears, on the mound as the starter.
We know that Steffens was wrong about the Soviet Union, but at least he knew where the future he prophesied would occur.
We don’t even know where the newly incorporated members of Oakland’s active roster will play if and when they reach their peak years. How will they work out? We shall see what we shall see, although we might have to travel to Las Vegas to do that.
There were six rookies in the A’s starting lineup for tonight’s overwhelming 10-2 win by Seattle. They were, in addition to MacKinnon and Langeliers, Nick Allen, Jonah Bride, Skye Bolt, and Sheldon Neuse, who just sneaked in under MLB’s definition of “rookie,” 130 or less at bats in a previous season or seasons.
Tonight, Allen went 1 for 4 and had trouble with his baserunning and fielding. Bride went 1 for 3 and scored a run. Langeliers was held hitless in three ABs but drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Both Neuse and MacKinnon went 0 for two, and the latter made some pretty nifty plays at first.
A’s starting pitcher was Cole Irvin, in his first appearance against the Mariners this season. Last year, he went 0-5, 8.69 against them. He began the day at 6-10, 3.13 for 2022 but 0-3, 3.60 for August. Tonight Irvin left after six innings, in which he gave up six runs, five of them earned, on six hits, two of them homers, and two walks. He took the loss and now stands at 6-11, 3.33.
Irvin’s mound opponent was Marco González, the 30 year old one time first round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals. He brought a lifetime mark 58-45, 4.08 and a season’s record of 7-12, 4.18, with him to the mound.
This was his fourth start of the year against Oakland. In the three that preceded it, he went 2-1, 4.42. His best performance in that trio of games came on June 21, when he went seven innings at the Coliseum, allowing two runs, both earned, on seven hits, on way to an 8-2 win over the home team. González lasted six innings tonight.
He held the A’s to a pair of runs, one of which was earned, on a half a dozen hits and two walks. He struck out seven on his way to eighth victory against 12 defeats and an ERA of 4.08.
Seattle jumped to an early lead in their first turn at bat. Julio Rodríguez led off by dropping a Texas League single to right. Ty France sent him to third with a solid single, also to right. With the infield conceding the run by playing at double play depth, the A’s pulled off a 4-6-3 twin killing that emptied the bases before Irvin got Mitch Haniger to. fly out to Bolt in left center to end the inning.
Oakland took advantage of Seattle’s mistakes to come back in their half of the first. With one out, González plunked Bride with an 85 mph cutter. A walk to Sean Murphy put men on first and second.
Chad Pinder followed with an RBI single that plated Bride and sent Murphy to second. Both Murphy and Pinder moved up a base on left fielder Sam Haggerty’s errant throw home. That paved the way for Langleliers sacrifice fly to center, the third RBI in his short major league career, and put the Athletics on top, 2-1.
That lead lasted until the top of the fourth. With one down, Haniger pulled a single to left. Then Eugenio Suárez hammered a hanging curve 307 feet to left for his 21st home run of 2022 and 3-2 Mariner lead.
The green and gold almost tied it up in the home fifth. Alllen sent a two out double down the first line. It looked like he got a late start running, as if he thought the ball was foul, but he made it safely to second, and it wasn’t a close call.
When Bride drove a sharp single to left, Allen seemed a cinch to score. But Haggerty atoned for his first inning error to snab the Oakland shortstop with a perfect throw to the plate for the third out of the frame.
Allen’s troubles carried over into the top of the sixth. Up to then, he had fielded his position with grace and distinction. But he had trouble with the transfer after fielding Haniger’s one out grounder with Winker on first.
Allen recovered the ball, but his throw arrived late at first. The A’s challenged the call, but the verdict from New York was “the call stands.” It was a bad time for Allen’s lapse to have occurred; Suárez smacked his second round tripper of the night, this one 416 feet to center field, to stretch the Mariners’ lead to 6-2.
By the time Irvin got Frazier to pop out to second to end the frame, he already had thrown 92 pitches. He didn’t come out for the seventh, being replaced by the newest A of them all, Norge Ruíz.
González also made an early exit. He allowed singles to Murphy and Pinder and a walk to Brown to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the frame.
Righty Matt Brash relieved him, a move that the A’s countered by sending Vimael Machín to the plate to pinch hit for Neuse. After he struck out, Tony Kemp batted for MacKinnon. He grounded out to short for a force out of Brown at second.
Ruíz, like Irvin, suffered from a faulty defense. After Haggerty beat out a bunt to open the visitors´seventh, Rodríguez sent Brown to the warning track with a towering fly, which he dropped. Ty France and Jesse Winker followed with sacrifice flies that scored Haggerty and Rodríguez.
Neither run was earned, but Seattle now led 8-2. Diego Castillo hurled the seventh for the M’s, striking out Bolt and Allen in the process.
Seattle continued beating up on Ruíz in the eighth. JP Crawford started it by beating the shift, going to the opposite field for a single to left. Cal Raleigh sent a seeing eye single up the middle to move him to second, and Jake Lamb hit another seeing eye single, this one to left that brought in the ninth Mariner tally.
Ty France sent a bouncer that just eluded Allen’s glove to go into left for a single that scored Fraziere and put Lamb on third. That was it for the 28 year old right handed Cuban rookie. Southpaw Sam Moll replaced and induced a foul out to left from Jesse Winker. It now was 10-2, Seattle.
Penn Murfee was given the none too arduous task of holding onto this lead in the home eighth. He did it in 1-2-3 fashion. Chris Flexen was given the ceremonial task of keeping the A’s in check for the final three outs. It took him all of nine pitches.
The A’s and M’s will go at it again tomorrow afternoon at 4:15. James Kaprielian (3-7, 4.33) will pitch for the hosts and Logan Gilbert (10-5, 3.51) for their guests.
