Bats can't keep pressure on Mariners in loss

SEATTLE -- The later Saturday night's game went, the further the momentum seemed to be shifting in the A’s favor.

Aramis Garcia woke up a slumping A’s offense with a spark, tying the game in the seventh inning with a solo homer that wrapped just to the left of the foul pole in the right-field corner. Sergio Romo’s energetic presence on the mound provided another jolt with two scoreless innings immediately after. All that was missing was that last big hit.

That hit never came.

Throughout Romo’s heroic two hitless frames, the A’s went hitless at the plate after Garcia’s homer. The A’s bullpen was only able to hold Seattle’s offense for so long, with closer Lou Trivino the first to falter on the night by allowing the Mariners to load the bases with two outs on a single and two walks in the ninth before uncorking a wild pitch on his first pitch thrown to Mitch Haniger that resulted in a walk-off 5-4 loss at T-Mobile Park.

It marked the second straight night in which Seattle’s game-winning run against the A’s scored on a wild pitch. In Friday’s defeat, Jake Diekman’s second of three wild pitches in the seventh inning allowed Dylan Moore to score the go-ahead run.

“It’s frustrating the way it happened the last two nights. But [Trivino and Diekman] are our guys and you’re going to stay with them,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “These are our guys that close out games. We just couldn’t get it done in the last inning. It’s just frustrating that we lost in the fashion that we did the last two nights with two of our best guys.”

Trivino, who entered Saturday carrying a 0.84 ERA (two earned runs allowed in 21 1/3 innings) in 20 games pitched dating back to June 5, was just trying to contain Haniger, who had already tormented the A’s with two homers and a double through his first four at-bats earlier in the game.

Since Haniger is a known fastball hitter, Trivino decided to throw a first-pitch curveball. The pitch missed well off the plate, caught a piece of Garcia’s glove and sailed all the way to the backstop, easily allowing Jarred Kelenic to score from third.

“It’s very frustrating,” Trivino said. “No disrespect to their hitters, but it’s not like they beat me. I feel like I beat myself. That first hit I gave up was a good piece of hitting, and then I end up walking two people and throwing a wild pitch. That’s the thing that really angers me. Doing that rather than getting beat.”

Given Trivino’s success over most of the 2021 campaign, the right-hander has earned the right to look past Saturday’s misstep as a bad day at the office. On the other hand, the A’s offense has struggled to get much going coming out of the All-Star break, with this latest effort continuing the downward trend.

Entering Saturday batting .246 since the All-Star break with their 26 runs scored over those seven games tied for second-fewest in the American League, the A’s were off to a promising start against Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert. Chasing the rookie after making him throw 41 pitches in a third inning he was unable to complete, the A’s strung together a three-run rally in the third that was capped by Jed Lowrie’s two-out, two-run single to put them ahead, 3-1, at the time.

But aside from Garcia’s solo homer in the seventh, Oakland’s offense went hitless after the third against six different Mariners relievers. While it can be difficult to see so many different looks with a fresh pitcher entering the game each inning, Melvin refused to give his hitters that excuse after the game.

“We’ve faced these guys before,” Melvin said. “We just have to do more offensively so we’re not in the position that we’re in like that late in games. One hit after the third is not ideal.

“We just have to put together better at-bats, whether it’s making guys throw a few more pitches and maybe drawing a walk or being less aggressive. Our at-bats need to be a little bit better to where we take a little pressure off the pitchers to where they have to be perfect.”

For most of the season, the AL West has appeared to be a two-team race between the Astros and A’s. With back-to-back losses in Seattle this weekend, the A’s have seemingly opened the door for the Mariners to force their way into that conversation, with Seattle heading into an important series finale on Sunday now just 2 1/2 games back of Oakland for second place in the division.