The Mariners fell to 10 games below .500 on the season after a failed comeback against their American League West rivals.
SEATTLE — An uncharacteristic and confusing night from Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert led to a hill his team was barely unable to climb out of en route to a 7-6 loss to the Athletics on Friday at T-Mobile Park.
The Mariners began the game well with a two-run bottom of the second, complete with an RBI double from second baseman Cole Young and an RBI single from shortstop J.P. Crawford.
The Athletics responded promptly with a five-run, four-homer inning in the top of the third.
A's designated hitter Max Muncy hit the first — a lead-off solo homer to left field. Shortstop Alika Williams had the next, which was a one-out solo shot (also to left field). After walking center fielder Henry Bolte, first baseman Jeff McNeil hit a two-run shot to right field.
Third baseman Zack Gelof capped off the scoring output for the Athletics with a solo homer to left field, which resulted in the Athletics taking a 5-2 lead.
Despite the third-inning surge from the A's, Seattle wasn't out of it yet.
The Mariners but up three runs of their own in the bottom of the third. After center fielder Julio Rodriguez brought a run in on a groundout, catcher Cal Raleigh hit a two-run shot to right field to tie the game 5-5.
Unfortunately for Seattle, the A's weren't out of it yet. In the top of the fifth inning, Gelof hit an RBI triple that gave the Athletics a 6-5 lead.
Mariners right fielder Lazaro Montes collided with the wall attempting to make the catch and was later pulled from the inning due to left hip soreness. X-rays came back negative.
"I haven't gotten an update quite yet," Seattle manager Dan Wilson said in a postgame interview Friday. "Sounds like x-rays were negative, so that's a good sign. See how he is in the morning and see if anything else further is needed at this point. Hoping for the best, seems like he's up walking around. Likely will be pretty sore tomorrow, but (we'll) see how it goes."
A's right fielder Lawrence Butler was able to bring home Gelof with his own RBI single that resulted in the team's final run of the game, and bolstered the visitors' advantage to 7-5.
Gilbert finished his outing with 10 strikeouts, two walks and seven earned runs allowed on eight hits (four homers). It's the first time in MLB history a pitcher has finished with that exact line.
"Kind of confusing," Gilbert said after the game. "I think, who knows, maybe predictable patterns or sequences. There's a lot of tape out there so people could see how you pitch. When we did different things, like a 1-0 changeup or something, seemed to work. Maybe it was just falling into patterns and they were taking advantage of it. ... I think I just pitched bad. They hit it, I made mistakes. Pretty bad overall."
The Mariners had five innings to tie or take the lead but were unable to do so. They were unable to cash in despite having runners reach in the fifth and sixth innings and were retired in order in the seventh.
In the bottom of the eighth, Raleigh hit a lead-off, ground-rule double and was brought home on an RBI single hit by first baseman Josh Naylor. That hit resulted in the eventual final of 7-6.
Replacement right fielder Taylor Ward popped out to end the inning and left the game-tying and go-ahead runs stranded.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, left fielder Randy Arozarena drew a lead-off walk but was unable to advance past second.
Seattle finished the game 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded six.
The Mariners will attempt to take the first step in securing a split in the four-game series against the A's in game three of the set at 6:40 p.m. PT on Saturday.
George Kirby will start for Seattle and Jeffrey Springs will start for the Athletics.
