A’s drop series finale to Mariners 8-4

And on Mother’s Day too

The A’s lost the final game of their weekend series against the Mariners, falling 8-4 to their division rival.

Lefty Alex Wood got the ball to start today’s game. He was coming off of his best start of the season entering today, but he didn’t carry over that momentum into this contest. Oakland’s Opening Day starter only lasted two innings, allowing five runs and putting the club in a big hole to start the game. At 60 pitches Wood wouldn’t even come out to start the third, instead making way for fellow lefty Kyle Muller to soak up some innings and keep the game from getting more out of hand.

On the other side of things the Oakland offense couldn’t really get much of anything going against Seattle ace Luis Castillo. Over the first four innings the club received just three singles while striking out five times.

They did finally break through in the fifth, courtesy of Max Schuemann:

That was his second home run of the year, putting the A’s on the board. They’d tag Castillo for one more solo home run in the next inning, this time off the bat of Abraham Toro:

That was Toro’s fourth of the year and he is now batting .299 on the season, good for 8th-best in the American League. He continues to be one of the Athletics best hitters and we shouldn’t expect to see him out of the lineup very often.

While the club was finally on the board, Seattle kept up with the A’s and scored runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. Muller threw two scoreless innings after replacing Wood but allowed three runs in his next two innings. Not what you’d want to see if one was considering giving him a start or two. It was now a 7-2 game after six innings and this one was slipping away.

Left-fielder Brent Rooker doubled the Athletics’ score with a 2-run shot in the eighth to give some hope of a possible late-game comeback:

He really connected on that one. That was Rooker’s 10th of the season and he’s hitting .292 so far. He’s well on his way to another All-Star appearance if he keeps this pace up, and it’d be well-deserved.

That would be all the team would get from the bats today though. A groundball double play ended this game, securing the loss and heading out of town on a down note.

Not the best outcome for Mother’s Day but it happens. The A’s are now 19-23 and remain in third place in the AL West. The team will now head out on their way to Houston. Tomorrow will kick off a four-game series against another division rival. Veteran Ross Stripling will get the ball hoping to get the club back in the win column.