'This feels like Mariners baseball': Late HRs win it

OAKLAND -- For much of Wednesday evening, it seemed as if Seattle had no answers for its own dry spell at the plate. An unusual May rainstorm had delayed first pitch by an hour, and the Mariners' bats were also delayed -- until they showed up at precisely the right time.

Seattle unleashed a downpour of offense in a five-run 10th inning to capture a 7-2 comeback victory and a series win in Oakland. After dropping four of six games in the first two legs of their three-city road trip, the Mariners could wind up 5-4 with a sweep of the A's on Thursday afternoon before heading back home.

"Not the prettiest win," manager Scott Servais said, "but they don't ask how you got there as long as you get there. And we got there."

There would be no comeback to speak of if not for AJ Pollock, who again came up clutch with a game-tying home run one day after he broke up the A's combined no-hitter bid by going deep in the eighth inning. The veteran outfielder worked an 11-pitch at-bat against A's right-hander Zach Jackson with one out in the ninth, at one point fouling off six straight offerings.

"I was kind of battling," Pollock said. "I kind of remember just feeling a little funky with the timing of the pitches and everything. He's a pretty unique pitcher, and I felt like I just got better with the timing as the at-bat went on."

That set the stage for Eugenio Suárez to break the tie amid an 0-for-11 stretch at the plate.

After Matt Brash had tossed a scoreless ninth inning to send the game to extras, Suárez came to the plate in the 10th with two outs and two runners on -- Jose Caballero, the automatic runner, and Julio Rodríguez, who had drawn a leadoff walk. The Mariners' third baseman promptly delivered a dagger, taking A's righty Adam Oller deep to right-center field.

"Even if I hit a blooper, I know I've got a chance to give you the RBI and win the game," Suárez said. "Obviously I got a homer, and I feel great. Sometimes when you try [too] much, that result's not there. That at-bat, I [didn't] try to hit a ball hard and just put my best swing on it."

What was Suárez thinking about during that critical at-bat?

"Nothing on my mind," he said. "Zero on my mind."

That clear-headed approach was key as Suárez launched his first homer since April 15 -- though he isn't the only Mariner going through a rough stretch of late. Seattle's lineup has been in somewhat of an offensive funk, collecting three hits in Tuesday's series opener and going 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday.

To many in the visitors' clubhouse, the Mariners' big 10th inning -- in which all five runs came in with two outs -- felt like a return to the brand of baseball that helped Seattle end its 20-year playoff drought in 2022.

"We get knocked, and we come back," Pollock said. "We probably need to do a better job of coming out of the chute and getting quality at-bats in the beginning, but to have that in your pocket -- a team that knows that you get down and you really have a good opportunity to put on runs late in the game, I don't think anyone believes that we're out of it."

"It's exciting," said starting pitcher Logan Gilbert who got a no-decision after tossing six innings of two-run ball. "This feels like Mariners baseball."

Early in the game, Seattle could not scratch anything across despite getting four hits and two walks off Oakland left-hander JP Sears. Caballero, who recorded the first three-hit game of his career, was perhaps the only bright spot up to that point, as his trio of knocks all came with runners on base.

Though they eventually grinded their way to a win on Wednesday, plenty of frustration remains for members of the Mariners' offense. Servais said he's seen his team trying to do too much, which has led to them getting in their own way.

Instead of pressing at the plate, he said, they need to trust in themselves and each other.

"When you do that, you kind of get out of your game," Servais said. "You've got to let the game come to you."