Mariners’ offense listless again against pitching-challenged Athletics

Scoring two runs isn’t going to cut it.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson can laud his team for battling in a loss … again. He can talk about the approach improving at the plate and the at-bats getting better. It’s not illogical for an optimist to say it’s early in the season and the results will improve in the warm months ahead.

But right now, the Mariners offense has been at best inconsistent, unproductive far too often and listless once again on Tuesday night.

Playing in their 25th game of the season and in front of a crowd well below the announced crowd of 19,092, the Mariners were held to two runs or fewer for the 10th time this season.

With a 5-2 loss to the A’s, the Mariners fell to 1-9 in those games.

Yes, Seattle’s bullpen turned a 2-2 game into a three-run loss with Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier and Cole Wilcox all allowing runs in their appearances.

But two runs?

The lack of scoring is even more galling considering their opponent’s pitching woes.

The A’s, who reside in Sacramento temporarily, but won’t acknowledge it, came into this series with one of the worst pitching staffs in the American League. They ranked third to last in the AL in ERA (4.71), they’d issued the second most walks (112) in all of baseball and have third highest walks plus hits over innings pitched (1.50) in MLB.

And the Mariners mustered all of two runs. Going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and stranding eight runners doesn’t help. Combined with Monday’s loss, the Mariners are 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position, including hitless in their last 15 at-bats. They’ve stranded 15 runners in those two games.

The Mariners got an uneven outing from starter Luis Castillo.

Castillo needed 95 pitches to get through five innings. It was a frustrating battle that featured 13 three-ball counts and 24 foul balls. He still only gave up two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Perhaps it was an early indicator of his battle with the A’s and his command when he walked Nick Kurtz on six pitches to start the game. Kurtz stole second almost immediately and scored on Tyler Soderstrom’s two-out double to right-center.

After struggling to hit the Moyer-esque stylings of A’s lefty starter Jacob Lopez over the first two innings, the Mariners evened the game in the third. Rob Refsnyder and Cal Raleigh led off the inning with back-to-back singles.

Refsnyder was able to tag up and advance to third on Julio Rodriguez’s flyout to left-center and then score on Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly to center.

The A’s picked up their second run off Castillo in the fourth when Jeff McNeil was able to pull a 1-1 changeup over the right field wall for a solo homer. It was his third career homer off Castillo.

The Mariners tied the game again in the fifth on Raleigh’s solo homer to left. It was his fourth homer of the season and his second straight game with a homer.

Former Zag pitcher Legumina designated for assignment

One bullpen arm’s on the way out. One fresh arm’s in.

The Seattle Mariners designated right-hander Casey Legumina – a former Gonzaga standout – for assignment on Tuesday, a day after he was tagged for three eighth-inning runs in a rare high-leverage appearance during a 6-4 loss to the Athletics.

Alex Hoppe, a 27-year-old right-hander with a big fastball, has been promoted from Triple-A Tacoma to join the M’s bullpen.

Hoppe has not allowed an earned run in eight appearances for the Rainiers this season, with just four hits allowed and a 12-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in eight innings.

His first appearance for the Mariners will be his MLB debut.