The Mariners returned home following a frustrating road trip in which they finished 3–4. They fell out of the lead in the AL West after losing to the Twins in a four-game series following an incredible series victory. They were going to have to concentrate against a team that was struggling to get to 500 and had been playing some excellent ball lately since they had a series against Oakland scheduled for this coming weekend. Even if Oakland’s pitching is far superior to that of 2023, it still has flaws, and the Mariners took advantage of those in game one, although it took a few innings.In the first game, the Mariners’ ultra-utility guy Dylan Moore took the lead. Going 3-4 with a home run, he recorded a career-high five RBI in the game as the Mariners won 8-1 to start the series. When it mattered most, the Mariners offense performed well against the Athletics. Although it was unfortunate to see Bryan Woo leave the game early, it sounds like a precautionary measure, and Servais anticipates that Woo will start his next game. Given how Emerson Hancock has been playing this season, the Mariners were relieved to see that he looked terrific. Woo pitched 4.1 innings and gave up just one hit and one walk. The Mariners would lose game two by the same score that they won game one, an 8-1 total, in one of those strange baseball occurrences. Bryce Miller pitched remarkably well, striking out nine in six innings while giving up just two hits. In this one, the bullpen broke out, as the three relievers allowed eight runs to score. With only three hits and no walks all day, the offense was dreadful. Thank goodness, it wasn’t a shutout because of the early Big Dumper bomb. Since the Mariners offense started clicking right away, the final game felt more like the first. Alex Wood would be lit up by them and forced to throw sixty pitches in two innings, and that would be the last thing he would do before being lifted. It brought back memories of the Braves vs. Mariners game, where an error that would have resulted in no harm allowed the Braves to have a big inning. An error at the beginning of the second inning allowed France to score. The Mariners scored two runs on walks, sacrifice fly, singles, and walks, although the inning would have ended with no runs scored if France had been out. And then—JULIOOOOOOO! His recent hitting has been considerably improved. Later in the game, he nearly missed a second home run when it bounced off the top of the wall near the yellow line. The AL West has to keep an eye on Julio to see if he plays up to his potential, because I think the rest of the Mariners’ offense will follow their leader. The Mariners ended the game with an 8-4 victory, taking the series after the Athletics and Mariners traded home runs in the fifth and sixth innings. A late home run by Brent Rooker in the eighth inning proved to be insufficient. They will now try to keep up their winning ways when they host the formidable Kansas City Royals, who have a 25-17 record and a +49 run differential.
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