Winning streak ends against closest pursuer
A sweep in Anaheim echoed a familiar A’s formula. Strong pitching propped up light offense. Starters worked deep into games. Seattle flipped that script Monday, handing the A’s a 4-2 loss. Oakland fell no further from a wild-card spot, but its win streak ended at five games and a trailing division foe crept closer.
Left-hander Tyler Anderson stymied the A’s offense for seven innings. Sean Manaea could not match him. Manaea’s first two September starts were two of his best since the All-Star break. Seattle hitters flailed against him in two prior
matchups this season. On Monday, they chased him after five innings.
Oakland and Seattle play six more times. The Mariners have won their past six meetings and sit one game behind Oakland in the standings. The A’s lineup has scored 16 runs in those six losses. The A’s fell to 4-9 this year against a team they must beat to keep their playoff window ajar.
“Probably would have served us a little better to put a little more pressure on their starter so we didn’t have to fight against their bullpen the last couple of innings,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “But they’ve pitched really well against us.”
Manaea stranded a two-out double in the first and used eight pitches in the second. Dylan Moore lined a one-out single in the third. J.P. Crawford grounded a single up the middle. Ty France chopped a single through the left side to score Moore.
Mitch Haniger worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases. On an 0-2 count, Manaea threw a curveball that stayed up in Kyle Seager’s hitting zone. Seattle’s cleanup man drove it into the gap in left-center to score two runs. Oakland’s bullpen stirred. Manaea struck out Luis Torrens and coaxed a flyout from Abraham Toro, using 34 pitches for the inning.
“They just strung together some hits and put the ball in play,” Manaea said.
Seager, who entered 8-for-36 lifetime against Manaea, won another matchup in the fifth. Haniger sent a double off the wall. Seager worked a 3-1 count and lined a fastball into rightcenter. Haniger scored as Seager tried for second, an illadvised decision. Starling Marte, who leads the majors in outfield assists since 2015, fired a one-hop throw to retire him.
At 86 pitches, Manaea did not return for the sixth. He allowed eight hits and his pitches induced just nine swings-and-misses.
“Maybe not his best stuff,” Melvin said. “Probably wasn’t jumping out of his hand like it normally does as far as velocity goes . ... Probably didn’t get the strikeouts like we normally see but battled hard.”
Domingo Acevedo threw two scoreless relief innings, Sam Moll and Deolis Guerra one each to offer time for a rally. Anderson overrode it.
Seattle’s starter employs an unusual delivery, with a lift of his right leg and several kicks before coming forward. Timing him seemed a struggle. Anderson mixed a four-seam fastball with cutters and changeups. He dropped to a sidearm angle at times. He struck out seven over seven one-run innings. The A’s managed four hits against him.
Chad Pinder lined a leadoff double in the third inning and Khris Davis drove a double off the base of the wall in rightcenter. Anderson snuffed out the rally with three pitches. Elvis Andrus pushed a bunt back to the mound. Josh Harrison lifted a first-pitch pop-out. Marte-grounded out.
Matt Olson skied a first-pitch flyout in the fourth. Matt Chapman, who sees the most pitches per plate appearance among qualified hitters, slowed Anderson’s roll with a seven-pitch walk. He was stranded. Anderson allowed two hits after the third.
Oakland mounted a threat in the eighth. Diego Castillo replaced Anderson. Andrus, Harrison and Marte strung one-out singles. Paul Sewald entered and struck out Olson with a back-door slider. Chapman struck out swinging at three fastballs. The teams played before an announced crowd of 4,068, the smallest at the Coliseum since the A’s lifted attendance limits in late June.