Mariners erupt for season-high 16 runs in Oakland onslaught

OAKLAND -- The first two pitches from George Kirby Tuesday night evoked a metaphorical combination of “oh no” and “here we go again,” as the Mariners trailed by one run immediately via two hard-hit knocks against Seattle’s extremely competitive starter.

Kirby was coming off his most challenging month of the season, one that saw him tumble out of Cy Young Award consideration. And the Mariners, overall, have seen their playoff hopes reach life support, entering the day below .500 for the first time since April 20.

The stage was setting up for another potentially long and frustrating night -- yet it wound up being anything but.

Kirby settled in to retire his next 11 en route to his 17th quality start, surrendering only one run the rest of the way and working out of damage-looming jams in the fifth and sixth innings. Seattle’s bats, meanwhile, backed him with their most runaway performance in years, en route to a 16-3 victory over the A’s at the Coliseum that snapped a four-game losing streak.

Seattle hadn’t scored that many runs in a game since June 2, 2016, at San Diego, a night in which it set a franchise record by coming back after trailing by 10.

The Mariners (70-70) also made up one game on the first-place Astros, who lost in Cincinnati, making Wednesday just the sixth day in 16 tries since the All-Star break in which Seattle won when Houston lost (excluding head-to-head matchups).