OAKLAND, Calif. _ Wasted chances and costly mistakes.
While the cliche would be to say that it sounds like the title of a country or emo song, the status of the Seattle Mariners achieves a bitter melancholy far worse than either genre could elicit. And any lyrics that might be written would be filled with curse words and tinged with regret.
The most recent failure, a 6-2 loss to the Oakland A's on Friday night, only added to the prolonged misery that includes a four-game losing streak and losses in 19 of their last 24 games. The Mariners were 18-11 on April 26. They are 23-30 since. Perhaps their only blessing is that rookie left-hander Yusei Kikuchi is starting Saturday. They've picked up victories in five of his last six starts.
The most glaring reason for defeat was their failure to take advantage of the multitude of runners they put on base. The Mariners stranded 15 runners. It probably would have been 16 if Mitch Haniger didn't get picked off. The club record for most runners left on base in one game is 18 set June 27, 2008, vs. the San Diego Padres.
Facing reliever/starter Daniel Mengden and his waxed mustache, the Mariners managed to score one run in four innings while leaving the bases loaded in the first, two runners on in the second, bases loaded in the third and another in the fourth.
That one run came in the first when Daniel Vogelbach scored from second on a two-out single from Domingo Santana. The Mariners were actually fortunate that A's first baseman Matt Olson cut off a throw from Ramon Laureano that was headed for home. Replays showed that it had a chance to get the less-than-fleet Vogelbach.
Mariners starter Wade LeBlanc cruised through the first three innings without incident, allowing his first hit in the third. That base runner was quickly erased when the next batter, Nick Hundley, hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
But his outing fell apart in the fourth inning as he faced the A's for a second time. After watching LeBlanc pound the strike zone for early called strikes and seeing the widening strike zone of home plate umpire Bill Welke, the A's switched their approach and it worked.
After Marcus Semien worked a leadoff walk, Oakland's middle of the order got ultra-aggressive early in the count. The next four batters _ Chad Pinder, Matt Chapman, Stephen Piscotty and Matt Olson _ all took vicious swings at the first pitch of their at-bats with varying levels of success. J.P. Crawford caught Pinder's rocket for the first out. Chapman hit a fly ball to Haniger for the second out. But that third out was elusive. Piscotty's line drive was just out of the reach of a leaping Crawford for a single. But the gut punch was a misplaced first-pitch curveball in Olson's preferred swing path which resulted in a booming three-run homer to deep right-center and a 3-1 lead.
Oh, but the scoring wasn't finished. Mark Canha waited till the second pitch of his at-bat to club a 1-0 fastball into the left field for back-to-back homers and a 4-1 lead.
It took a while, but the Mariners got one of those runs back with a rare hit with a runner in scoring position. Domingo Santana hit a one-out double over the head of Ramon Laureano in center. He later scored on Tim Beckham's two-out double to left field. With a possible rally building, A's manager Bob Melvin with to right-hander Lou Trivino _ one of the best set-up men in baseball. Trivino struck out Shed Long swinging on four pitches, none of which were actually in the strike zone.
After six clean innings of baseball, the Mariners, in what is an every-game event, committed an error in the field. This one led to a run. With Laureano on third base, Semien, who had worked a two-out walk off Connor Sadzeck, tried to steal second. Mariners catcher Omar Narvaez's throw was so far off-line that Crawford couldn't catch it. Laureano, who had no intention of going home on the throw down, hustled home for a 5-2 lead. It was the Mariners' 57th error this season and their 46th unearned run allowed _ both totals lead all of MLB by a distinct margin.
The A's tacked on another run in the eighth when Piscotty whacked a solo homer off Sadzeck to make it 6-2.
