Left-hander JP Sears pitched five strong innings, Sam Moll escaped an eighth-inning jam and the Oakland Athletics made it two out of three over the visiting Seattle Mariners with a 5-3 triumph Sunday afternoon.
Shea Langeliers had a single, double and triple, driving in one run and scoring another, for the A’s, who won for the fourth time in their last six games following a nine-game losing streak.
Oakland never trailed, scoring once in the first on Sean Murphy’s double, twice in the second on Cal Stevenson’s sacrifice fly and Nick Allen’s single and once in the fifth on Stephen Vogt’s single to go up 4-1.
Shooting for a third consecutive series win over Oakland, the Mariners rallied to 4-3 in the seventh on an RBI double by pinch hitter Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez’s third hit of the game, an RBI single.
Seattle then put runners at first and third with one out in the eighth, but Moll came on to get J.P. Crawford on a liner to second and Dylan Moore on a grounder to short to retain the one-run advantage.
Langeliers, who had totaled three hits in his first four big-league games, then gave the Oakland bullpen an insurance run with his third hit of the game, an RBI triple in the last of the eighth.
Austin Pruitt got the final two outs of the ninth, including Rodriguez on a liner to center while representing the potential tying run, for his first save since 2018.
Picked up from the New York Yankees at the trade deadline, Sears (5-0) notched his second win in three starts for the A’s, limiting the Mariners to one run and six hits in his five innings. He walked one and struck out three.
One of the hits was a solo home run by Mitch Haniger, his fifth of the season, in the third inning.
Seattle’s prized acquisition at the deadline, Luis Castillo (5-5), suffered his first loss in four starts for the Mariners, charged with four runs on eight hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Murphy finished with a single and a double for the A’s, who outhit the Mariners 12-9. All nine Oakland starters had at least one hit. All nine also either scored a run or drove one in.
Raleigh and Moore had two hits apiece for Seattle, which completed a 5-4 road trip with consecutive losses.
–Field Level Media
