Mariners stifled by left-hander again in 6-1 loss to Oakland
SEATTLE – It seemed like a bit of good fortune a few days ago for the Mariners when a bout of food poisoning knocked Oakland ace Sonny Gray out of a scheduled start this weekend at Safeco Field.
Not now.
The Athletics ran out another retread left-hander Saturday night in Rich Hill, and the Mariners’ lineup responded by again turning fetal in a 6-1 loss at Safeco Field.
Hill gave gave up one run and five hits in six innings while walking one and striking out 10. Read that again: 10 strikeouts in six innings. He didn’t make it through the third inning in his previous start against the White Sox.
“He was locating the fastball and using the off-speed stuff really well,” said Chris Iannetta, whose homer in the second inning provided the Mariners with their only run
“He was getting his curveball over for strikes whenever he wanted to. It was his go-to pitch in big situations. Early in the count, he was using it. He was very versatile with it.”
The Mariners had just four hits Friday in a 3-2 loss when Oakland started left-hander Eric Surkamp after recalling him earlier in the day from the minors.
“We haven’t swung the bat very well, obviously, the last couple of nights,” manager Scott Servais said. “Rich Hill threw the ball really well. Obviously, he had us off our game tonight.”
What all this likely means is the Mariners, who have lost three of four to left-handed starters, can expect opponents to be lining every possible lefty starter for the foreseeable future.
“It’s a little early,” Iannetta said. “We’re just going to try to get good at-bats. Everyone is working hard to do that. You’re going to have nights when it’s like this. Unfortunately, we’ve had two in a row.”
Oakland scored the only runs it needed Saturday in the first inning against Nathan Karns who, in his Mariners debut, needed 35 pitches to get the first three outs.
The Athletics scored twice with two outs on shift-beating RBI grounders by Danny Valencia and Jed Lowrie. Karns (0-1) pitched through the fifth; he gave up four runs and seven hits while striking out six and walking one.
“They did a great job of battling out there,” Karns said. “At times, I was not as crisp as I would like to be to start a game. They definitely worked the counts. They fouled off some tough pitches.”
The Athletics extended their lead with singles runs in the sixth against Tony Zych and the seventh against Vidal Nuno. The Mariners, meanwhile finished with just five hits.
One (possible) good bit of news: The Mariners face a right-hander, Chris Bassitt, in Sunday’s series finale.