Short-Handed A's Bullpen Leads to Game 2 Loss Against Seattle Mariners

To close out the ninth inning for the green and gold, A's manager Mark Kotsay elected to trot out right-hander Tyler Ferguson, which was set to be his fourth appearance in four days. Unlike the other three outings for Ferguson, this one did not end the way he would've liked it to.

The A's offense gave the team a lead to work with following an RBI single by Miguel Andujar in the bottom of the eighth. The team was just three outs away from closing the door and securing the series win against Seattle, which would have put them in a tie for first place in the AL West.

Ferguson faced Seattle's leadoff hitter, JP Crawford, to start the inning, and promptly sent him back to the dugout with a strikeout.

Jorge Polanco followed up the strikeout with a walk to get the Mariners a base runner. A Julio Rodríguez single and a Randy Arozarena hit-by-pitch loaded the bases. This led to the pinch-hitting Cal Raleigh collecting a clutch go-ahead single, which gave the Mariners a lead.

Dylan Moore added insurance for Seattle with a sacrifice fly, which took Ferguson out of the game, but the damage had already been dealt. A's southpaw Hogan Harris struck out Rowdy Tellez to end the dreadful inning for the club with the Athletics trailing 5-3.

The A's offense once again collected a pair of hits in the bottom of the 9th with back-to-back two-out singles by Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom. Kotsay elected to have veteran Seth Brown pinch hit with the game on the line, and he lined a ball out to right field, but it was ultimately caught to seal the Game 2 win for the Mariners.

Despite the rough ninth inning for the A's, there were certainly lots of positives both on the pitching side of things, as well as offensively. Jeffrey Springs made his eighth start in an A's uniform tonight and put together a solid start at home, where he has had his struggles.

After giving up a pair of runs between the first and second innings, Springs seemed to settle in just fine to keep the A's in the ballgame. After getting into some trouble in the fifth inning, Kotsay allowed Springs to finish the frame to complete a five-inning start in which he recorded four strikeouts, five hits, and two earned runs allowed.

A few A's hitters were able to have multi-hit games, which helped the A's offense get some base runners and keep the A's in the game.

Brent Rooker showcased his speed with a three-hit day, which included a hustle double, a pair of stolen bags, two runs scored, and an RBI. Andujar's late-inning heroics were also on display to contribute to his multi-hit day. And finally, Tyler Soderstrom also had three hits for the team in a 3-for-5 effort.

Justin Sterner continued his unbelievable run in which he has yet to allow a run in 18.1 innings this season. In back-to-back innings, the right-hander was able to escape two tough jams. He entered the game with one out and runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, and after hitting J-Rod, he got the final two outs of the inning to keep the score knotted at two.

In the eighth, he gave up a leadoff single to Dylan Moore, proceeded to strike out the next two batters, and after Moore swiped second, Sterner got Miles Mastrobuoni to line out.

The 28-year-old is certainly working his way into pitching some very important innings in the A's bullpen moving forward.

Overall, between the solid start from Springs and the solid work from Noah Murdock and Justin Sterner, the A's pitching kept the A's in the game until the last inning, despite some of the team's best arms not being available.

Wednesday's series finale will be the toughest test of the week, as the A's will be going up against one of their biggest foes in Oakland native Bryan Woo. In 37.1 innings against the A's, Woo holds a 0.72 ERA with an 0.857 WHIP. If the A's are able to pull out a win on Wednesday to secure the series, then this team could be in for one heck of a 2025 campaign.