Mariners drop series to A's, but loss softened by Eugenio Suárez's return

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Another frustrating offensive night that wasn’t helped by a substandard performance from Bryan Woo suddenly didn’t feel so bad for the Mariners.

To be clear, the Mariners lost on Wednesday night, falling 5-4 to the Athletics, dropping two of three games in their final series with the A’s this season and finished their seven-game road trip a disappointing 3-4.

But the night didn’t feel as much like a loss as it could have when in the seventh inning news broke of the Mariners reaching agreement on a trade to acquire third baseman Eugenio Suárez, bringing his 36 home runs and “Good Vibes Only,” back to Seattle. It’s an aggressive move by the M’s front office in the hope the reunion can spark an offense that has scored four runs or less in 10 of the last 11 games and potentially creates a formidable lineup capable of a playoff push.

“I think it’s just going to take some pressure off some guys. Whether they admit it or not, maybe guys are trying to overcook things and when you try to overdo it, try to swing harder, usually that doesn’t help,” M’s catcher Cal Raleigh said. “Everybody usually wants to be the guy. But hopefully with the lineup getting deeper and us trusting each other a little more like that, the lineup being longer throughout we can rely on each other and we can really just try to pass the baton. Just not feeling like we need a big three-run homer to win it. We just keep going. Just keep passing it.”

The addition of Suárez comes after a road trip where consistent offensive production was hard to come by outside of the seven runs scored last Saturday in Anaheim.

And almost all of it on the road trip came via the home run. All four Mariners runs scored in the finale against the A’s came off home runs and 15 of the 22 runs scored over the seven games came thanks to the long ball.

“I felt good, even going into today but even better now that Geno is here. And it’s no knock on any guys that are in the clubhouse right now. It’s just how good Geno is and what he brings to the clubhouse and what he brings on the field every day, and the consistency,” Raleigh said.

While everyone was thrilled with Suárez’s pending arrival — the Diamondbacks arrived in Sacramento from Detroit for their weekend series with A’s a couple hours before the final out — there was still the matter of a loss that cost the Mariners a chance at a winning road trip.

Julio Rodríguez homered for the fifth time on the road trip and Jorge Polanco gave the M’s some life with a two-run shot in the seventh inning to pull within 4-3.

But in the span of two swings, the A’s ended any additional hopes of a Mariners comeback. Dominic Canzone appeared to hit a game-tying home run just two batters after Polanco went deep, only to watch A’s center fielder Lawrence Butler race into right-center field, reach over the short wall leading into the Mariners bullpen and rob the home run bid.

Miguel Andújar then led off the bottom of the seventh with his second home run of the game as Woo tied a career-high with four home runs allowed. All of them were solo shots but it was far from the performance Woo was hoping for pitching back in Northern California.

“I got my (rear) kicked tonight. It is what it is. Just got to take it on the chin and get back to work tomorrow,” Woo said.

Woo also gave up homers to Brent Rooker in the first inning, Andújar in the fourth and Darell Hernáiz in the fifth inning. The four homers matched the total he allowed in a start late in his rookie season of 2023 against Texas.

Woo pitched into the seventh before being lifted and recorded his 21 st straight start to begin the season pitching at least six innings to set a new franchise record. Woo bettered the mark of 20 by Randy Johnson set in 1993.

But it was a hollow accomplishment on this night after giving up eight hits and striking out six.

“I feel like I executed a couple good pitches. They hit a couple good pitches,” Woo said. “Maybe a couple of pitch selections here and there on my part but honestly not a whole lot.”

Polanco’s homer was one of two Mariners hits after the first inning. Randy Arozarena homered with one out in the ninth but Josh Naylor and Polanco grounded out to end it.

Rodríguez seemed to set the right tone when he hit a 3-2 changeup out of the stadium in the top of the first inning for his 19 th of the season. The shot was estimated at 418 feet by MLB Statcast data, but that looked to be an undervalued estimate.

Arozarena added a parachute single later in the inning, but that was the last base hit A’s starter Jeffrey Springs allowed as he retired the next 13 straight batters before issuing a leadoff walk to Ben Williamson in the sixth.

“You look at some of the balls that were hit hard tonight and just nothing to show for them and that’s frustrating when you’re in a situation like we are right now where we’re having a little bit of a harder time scoring runs. And so it gets a little bit more magnified,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said.

While Wilson didn’t want to confirm anything until the front office formally announced the acquisition of Suárez he did allow himself a moment to ponder what adding that kind of punch and personality to this lineup could mean.

“That’s a really good thing and it’s exciting if it is in fact true,” Wilson said. “In some ways for Geno a coming home in a way and that’s kind of a nice touch, too. Again, we’ll just wait to see how it all turns out.”