It was a simple win.
The Mariners got a lot of hits and scored four runs. The A’s got fewer few hits and scored fewer runs. The Mariners beat the A’s 4-1 on Tuesday. It was that simple.
The Mariners wasted no time in jumping on Gage Jump, making first his first start as a big leaguer. Josh Naylor and Rob Refsnyder led off the second with a pair of singles. It seemed they’d both score after Mitch Garver doubled into the left field corner, but the ball lodged itself in the fence and the umpires sent Refsnyder back to third. No matter. Cole Young hit a sac fly to plate Refsnyder and make the game 2-0. Victor Robles came through with a single to make it 3-0.
Robles led off the fourth with a double (his second of three hits on the day) and Julio Rodríguz would later make it 4-0 with a rocket single to left. The Mainers wouldn’t score again, but it was an overall great night for the lineup, especially facing the lefty in Gage. They picked up 11 hits and a walk, and every starter either reached base or plate a run.
Emerson Hancock was perfect through four. He was efficient, needing just 37 pitches to get there. He wasn’t necessarily picking up lots of whiffs or punching out batters — save for a beautiful top-rail fastball that Nick Kurtz swung through in the first — but the A’s couldn’t square him up, or could only do so right at a Mariners fielder. Hancock got Darrell Hernaiz to hit the ball less than a foot in the third inning; he ticked it straight down to where Garver could simply pick it up and tag him out in the batter’s box. It was going that well. In the fourth, Hancock got the top of the order of Carlos Cortes, Kurtz, and Shea Langeliers to go down without much fight. For a moment, I wondered if this was it.
Hancock has been a revelation this year. It’s one of the most impressive career turnarounds I’ve witnessed first hand. I wouldn’t quite say he’s the Mariners absolute best pitcher right now, but that it’s close is borderline unbelievable. Even just the idea that Hancock might throw a perfect game would have seemed impossible this time last year. Of course, that he might strike out 14 would have seemed impossible, too.
I probably beat this drum too often. Every time I cover a Hancock start, I remind you that he was once bad and that now he’s good. One of these days, he’ll just be good.
Anyways, Hancock wasn’t perfect. I did not burry that lede. He got into a jam in the fifth, walking the lead off batter then giving up a single. But he set down the side in order from there to escape the inning unscathed. The command started to falter in the sixth with a walk and a hit by pitch. But he painted another perfect top rail fastball to strikeout Kurtz in between, and got Brent Rooker to groundout to again shimmy out unscathed.
A fully rested bullpen, fresh off a complete game from last night’s starter, did its job from there. José Ferrer worked around a single in the seventh. Gabe Speier, in his first game back from the injured list, worked around a hit by pitch in the eighth. Speier also struck out Kurtz to snap his 48-game on base streak, leaving him forever (or maybe not forever) tied with Mark McGwire for the longest in A’s history.
Andrés Muñoz pitched the ninth with a 4-0 lead. He gave up a homer to make it 4-1 but eventually got the job done.
The Mariners took the series from the first place A’s with the win. Everyone in the division is now under .500. The Mariners could be in first place alone Wednesday — still under .500 — if they finish off the sweep.