A’s Bounce Back, Beat Mariners 6-1

Nice all-around win for the good guys

The Athletics evened up their series with the Mariners on Tuesday evening, beating them 6-1 to set up the rubber match tomorrow in the finale.

Severino conquers home demons

A lot has been said about starting pitcher Luis Severino. The club has gotten uneven results from their expensive offseason investment but it’s been especially bad at home, where he consistently gets knocked around. Entering tonight he had a home ERA well into the 6’s while his road stats look much more like the production the A’s thought they would be getting. If he doesn’t get traded and sticks around into next year, he needs to figure out how to pitch in the minor league stadium his squad plays in.

Tonight was a good step in that direction. Facing a Mariners club fighting hard for a playoff spot, Severino was about as dominant in a home start as he’s been all year. The 31-year old was shaky in the first, possibly because of some issues with the mound:

Even with the early issues, Sevy racked up three strikeouts in the opening frame of the game, an encouraging sign that he was locked in. Over the next four innings Severino kept Seattle mostly off balance, allowing just a walk and four hits while striking out three more Mariners hitters. They were able to tag him for a run thanks to a single, stolen base, and another single in the fourth but he escaped the frame without allowing any more damage thanks to our new shortstop, Darell Hernaiz:

Severino pitched one more inning, putting him in line for his first win in front of the Sacramento home crowd.

• Luis Severino: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 93 pitches

That’s more like it. It remains unlikely but there’s a non-zero chance that tonight could have been his last start in an Athletics uniform. If so then he surely boosted his value for the A’s, and if not then he’s lined up to take the ball next week against either the Diamondbacks at home on Sunday, or in Washington facing the Nationals on Tuesday.

Bats show up against rookie starting pitcher

While the Athletics had a longtime veteran on the mound tonight, Seattle turned to a rookie starter with just 11 games under his belt. Right-hander Logan Evans got the call for the start against the A’s tonight, his first appearance against us. It took a couple innings but once the batters saw what Evans had to offer, they got to work. Leading off the third inning Lawrence Butler started the rally with a single before a HBP of Nick Kurtz (really?) brought up All-Star DH Brent Rooker. After fouling off three straight balls, Rooker finally connected and blasted his 22nd home run of the season, a 3-run shot to make it a 3-0 A’s lead:

That gave the A’s and their starting pitcher some much-needed early breathing room but they weren’t done quite yet. In the same inning, one out separated doubles from Shea Langeliers and Miguel Andujar to give the A’s some extra insurance:

Seattle would get one of those runs back with a small-ball rally in the top half of the next inning, but the A’s just got that one and another back in the bottom of the fifth. First up: Langeliers again, this time a solo home run, his 18th of the year:

Up next came a Tyler Soderstrom single, and he came around to score on Andujar’s second hit of the night, a double to left to extend the lead to 6-1. That finally ended Evans’ day for Seattle, marking his worst career start to date in his young career. That’s how you introduce yourself to a new rival.

Finishing it off

From there this game was in the A’s hands. Severino came out after five and handed it over to his bullpen. First up was rookie Elvis Alvarado, then lefty Sean Newcomb followed by right-hander Michael Kelly. Alvarado and Newcomb tossed scoreless frames, while Kelly pitched the final two innings to finish off Seattle and secure the team’s 47th win of the year. Oh, and Kurtz ended the game with a web gem, too:

What can’t our stud rookie first baseman do? Love finishing a win off with some style and flair.

As well-rounded of a win as the team has had all year. They got a couple of big home runs from some of their biggest bats, and Severino finally got the monkey off his back with his first win in Sacramento. Trade candidate Miguel Andujar collected a couple big hits, and even new shortstop Darell Hernaiz got his first hit of the season with the big league club out of the way. The bullpen did its job with four scoreless frames and now the A’s have a chance to steal the series from the contending Mariners. Don’t you love playing spoiler to teams in our division?

The series wraps tomorrow with a tough matchup for the Athletics. Seattle will send out All-Star Bryan Woo, who is in the midst of a breakout season. The A’s will counter Woo with Jeffrey Springs, who will get the ball for the 23rd time this year but is also quickly approaching a career-high in innings pitched. Gotta come to the ballpark focused tomorrow if they wanna keep playing spoiler against these guys.