OAKLAND – The Oakland A’s announced a paid crowd of 5,624 at the Coliseum for their game Tuesday night against the Seattle Mariners. That barely outdrew the Oakland Ballers, who attracted a crowd of about 4,100 for a Pioneer League game at newly refurbished Raimondi Park, roughly seven miles away.
Still, that Coliseum crowd was rocking in the ninth inning.
Trailing by two, the A’s scored one run in the ninth against a vaunted Mariners bullpen and had the winning run at first base. But with two out, Mariners reliever Tayler Saucedo got Brent Rooker to ground out, ending the threat as the A’s lost 4-3.
Saucedo, who entered the game for an injured Andrés Muñoz, walked JJ Bleday to put runners on first and second. But the left-hander closed out the win for the Mariners, who are now 28-0 this year when leading after eight innings.
Oakland (24-38) scored one run in the ninth as Max Schuemann scored from third base on a Muñoz wild pitch. But for the game, the A’s were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.
“(Seattle’s) pitching staff is one of the better pitching staffs in the league. They don’t give up too many free bases,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “We had a chance tonight against their ‘pen. But at the end of the day … we couldn’t get the big hit tonight.”
The A’s did avoid the indignity – officially, anyway — of being outdrawn by The Town’s other professional baseball team playing its first-ever home game.
In West Oakland, a sold-out crowd saw the Ballers face the Yolo High Ballers in a Pioneer League game. Oakland lost 9-3.
The Coliseum crowd on Tuesday, boisterous at times before the ninth inning, was the 15th-biggest in the A’s 30th home game of the season.
The A’s have averaged just 6,275 fans per game this year, their last in Oakland before a planned move to Sacramento for three seasons. The franchise hopes to be in a new ballpark in Las Vegas by the start of the 2028 season.
Tuesday’s crowd saw the Mariners score three runs in the top of the third on four doubles off of A’s starter Mitch Spence, who lasted six innings. The A’s responded with single runners in the bottom of the third and sixth innings.
In the third, Spence’s 53rd pitch was hammered to right-center field by Ty France for a two-RBI double that gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead. Spence then allowed another double to Luke Raley, scoring France for a 3-0 Seattle lead.
“I had a little bit of frustration in the third and had to battle through it,” Spence said. “But getting us into the sixth inning and kind of keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win is all I can really ask for.”
The A’s got one run back in the bottom of the third.
Mariners starter George Kirby retired the first seven batters with five strikeouts before Zack Gelof legged out a double with one out in the bottom of the third inning. That hustle paid off as with two outs, Gelof scored on an Abraham Toro bloop single to left center.
After the Mariners scored a run in the top of the fourth, thanks in part to Oakland’s MLB-worst 44th error of the season, the A’s loaded the bases in the bottom half. But on a 1-2 count, Kirby got Gelof swinging on an 87-mph slider.
Before Tuesday, Spence had performed well for the A’s, especially considering the state of the starting staff right now.
In his last three appearances, all starts, Spence was 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA (three earned runs in 13.0 innings) as a starter.
In his last start on May 28, Spence combined with T.J. McFarland, the now-suspended Michael Kelly, and Mason Miller on a three-hit shutout in the A’s 3-0 win at Tampa Bay.
In that game, Spence recorded career highs in innings (5.1) and pitches (98), as he retired 16 of the first 17 batters he faced. Kelly was given a year suspension from MLB for betting on games while he was in Triple-A in the Astros organization in Oct. 2021.
Spence might be in the rotation for a while, with starters Paul Blackburn (right foot stress reaction), Joe Boyle (lower back strain), Ross Stripling (right elbow flexor strain), Alex Wood (rotator cuff tendinitis), and Ken Waldichuk (Tommy John surgery) all on the injured list.
“Just been trying to take it in stride,” Spence said of joining the rotation. “I’ve started in the past, so I’ve kind of just leaned on the routine that I’ve had. But the biggest thing is with the pitch count going up, just making sure I get in the training room and get my recovery, so I can stay on the field.”
Waldichuk will not be able to return until the middle of next season at the earliest. Boyle, Stripling, and Wood could all return sometime this month, but Blackburn does not have a timetable. He’s hopeful, though, that he can ditch the walking boot he’s lugging around later this week.
Source: www.mercurynews.com