A’s suffer another late-game collapse

Lou Trivino blew his second save in his last two appearances, the Seattle Mariners coming back in the ninth inning to claim a 5-3 win on Monday night. It was the third straight late-inning loss for the A’s.

The Mariners tied the game on Ty France’s home run off Trivino to lead off the ninth inning. Back-to-back hits from Abraham Toro and Jake Fraley put runners on second and third with no outs. Trivino looked to have bounced back, striking out the next two batters and getting Jake Bauers down to his last strike, but he hit a single into left field to score both and give the Mariners their lead.

The A’s lost a chance to gain ground on the Houston Astros, who lost to the Kansas City Royals earlier on Monday. The A’s remain 3.5 games back of first place.

Since Paul Blackburn joined the rotation in Chicago last week, he’s strung together two solid starts, including a 5 2/3 inning out Monday. Mitch Haniger’s game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning erased the possibility of his first big league win this season. All 12 runs the A’s have allowed dating back to Aug. 20 have come via the home run.

Yan Gomes and Matt Olson hit solo home runs off Mariners lefthanded starter Marco Gonzales, typically an indication that the A’s offense is trending anemic.

Gomes’ home run came in the fourth inning, extending the A’s lead to 2-0. Mark Canha scored the A’s first run in the first inning. He led the game off with a single and Olson singled to advance him; the pair combined for a successful double steal and Gomes’ ground out scored Canha.

Olson’s home run, his 32nd home run of the year, came after Haniger’s two-run blow.