Mariners break up Joey Estes’ perfect game bid, rally falls short against A’s

OAKLAND, Calif. – They managed to avoid infamy.

They couldn’t quite manage to complete a comeback.

Oakland’s Joey Estes took a perfect game into the seventh inning, and the A’s held off the Mariners’ late charge for a 2-1 victory Wednesday night, ending Seattle’s seven-game winning streak at Oakland Coliseum.

Julio Rodriguez led off the ninth inning with a 402-foot home run to center field off Oakland’s electrifying closer, Mason Miller, on a 3-2 fastball.

It was Rodriguez’s fifth homer of the season.

It wound up as the Mariners’ only run of the night.

Cal Raleigh followed Rodriguez’s homer with an eight-pitch walk with no outs.

But Miller struck out Ty France swinging through a biting slider, and then got Victor Robles, in his first plate appearance with the Mariners, to ground into a game-ending double play.

The Mariners wasted a strong start from Logan Gilbert and dropped to 35-28.

The Mariners’ lead atop the American League West shrunk to 4½ games after Texas’ victory over Detroit.

Estes was untouchable through six innings, striking out five with no hits and no walks.

On the first pitch of the seventh, J.P. Crawford caught up to a first-pitch fastball and lofted it off the wall in right field, breaking up a perfect-game bid.

Estes got Josh Rojas to fly out to right field for the first out of the seventh, before being lifted for ex-Mariners reliever Austin Adams.

Estes, a 22-year-old right-hander, entered the game with a 6.46 ERA in his first six career starts.

Adams walked Rodriguez and hit France with a pitch with two outs to load the bases.

The A’s turned to left-hander T.J. McFarland, prompting the Mariners to turn to pinch-hitter Mitch Garver.

Garver worked a 3-2 count before grounding out to shortstop to end the inning, stranding the bases loaded.

Gilbert threw seven innings, allowing five hits with two runs – one earned – with no walks and five strikeouts.

Oakland’s Zack Gelof homered in the third inning for the game’s first run, and Daz Cameron – son of Mariners special assignment coach Mike Cameron, the former Gold Glove center fielder – scored on a passed ball to make it 2-0 in the fifth.

Cameron had advanced to third on Gilbert’s errant pickoff throw to first base.