8/23/25

(Seattle, WA) A beautiful Saturday night in the Pacific Northwest set the scene for game two between the Seattle Mariners and the Athletics in the final series between the two teams this season. After taking the opener to snap a five-game skid, the M’s would look to continue to build some momentum and erase the brutal results of their last road trip.

In the middle game, George Kirby would look to erase his last outing in which he got shelled by the Mets in Williamsport. For the A’s, Jeffrey Springs would get the ball as he looked to continued his dominance of the Mariners this season while making his fourth start against them in 2025.

Athletics 2, Mariners 1 (10 Innings) (Game Two)

It looked like the A’s would strike first early once again but this time in the top of the 2nd. A leadoff walk to Tyler Soderstrom was followed by a single for Jacob Wilson to put runners on the corners with nobody out. George Kirby would get a soft line drive off the bat of Lawrence Butler that would be caught by Eugenio Suárez at third for an important first out. Darell Hernaiz would look to play small ball and laid down a bunt for a safety squeeze and it was a good bunt on the first base side. Kirby would make a fantastic play, flipping the ball to Raleigh at the plate to get Soderstrom trying to score to cut down an early run. While Carlos Cortes would load the bases for the A’s, they came away with nothing as Kirby got former Mariner Luis Urías to line out to a diving Josh Naylor to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.

Seattle once again struggled against a starter with only one baserunner the first time through the order. In the top of the 4th, the Athletics would strike first after Jacob Wilson set the table with his 18th double with one out. Lawrence Butler once again was held in check with a line out to Julio Rodríguez in center for the second out. Darell Hernaiz would swing away this time and came through with a base hit to center. Julio’s throw was offline and late anyway, allowing Wilson to score and Hernaiz to move up to second. Kirby would get Carlos Cortes to groundout to strand a man in scoring position but the A’s had taken a 1-0 lead.

Seattle couldn’t cash in on a couple of two-out walks in the 4th but George Kirby kept it a 1-0 game after stranding a runner at third in the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th, Seattle finally got their big swing. Leading off the inning, Randy Arozarena worked a full count before chasing a fastball just above the zone. It was scorched, coming off the bat at 110.2-mph and rattled off the scoreboard in left field for a solo home run. The blast gave Arozarena a new career high with 24 home runs and tied the game up at 1-1.

Neither team could do much against the other’s bullpen so the game was fittingly headed to extra innings. Colby Thomas was the automatic runner in the top of the 10th for the A’s while lefty Caleb Ferguson came on to pitch with Matt Brash having the day off. Brett Harris would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Thomas to third with one out for the top of the order. Ferguson once again got weak contact off the bat of Nick Kurtz with a grounder to Cole Young who was playing in at second. That kept Thomas at third with two outs for Shea Langeliers. Ferguson quickly got ahead of the power hitting catcher 1-2. A slurve up and in was handled by Langeliers however as he smoked a liner down into the right field corner. Thomas scored as Langeliers reached second with his 22nd double of the season and the A’s had the 2-1 lead.

Josh Naylor would then be Seattle’s automatic runner at second while Tyler Ferguson stayed on to start the 10th. He would walk Jorge Polanco to put the winning run on for the returning Victor Robles. The spark plug of the M’s would try to lay down a bunt, but instead popped it up where it was caught by Langeliers for a massive first out. Hogan Harris would then come in to pitch for the A’s and looked like he got J.P. Crawford to end the game with a grounder to short. The ball was bobbled by Jacob Wilson, forcing the A’s to just get one at second and the game continued. A walk to Cole Young loaded the bases with two outs for Randy Arozarena who took a big rip at the first pitch but just fouled it off. That was the best chance for Arozarena as he would end up hitting a grounder to third to end the game. Seattle’s offense continued to struggle to string hits together and fell to the A’s in game two, 2-1.

Notable Performances

Athletics

Mariners

• George Kirby (ND)- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO
• Randy Arozarena- 1-5, HR, RBI, R
• Josh Naylor- 1-3, BB

What’s Next

Saturday would be a little blow to the Seattle Mariners (69-61) as they lost some more ground in the AL West. Houston defeated Baltimore 9-8 in a thriller to extend their lead in the AL West to three games over the M’s. In the Wild Card picture, Boston blew out New York 12-1 while Texas beat Cleveland 10-0 and Kansas City fell to Detroit 4-2. Boston owns the top Wild Card spot while the Yankees hold the second by just half of a game over Seattle. The Mariners still own the final playoff spot with a three-game lead over Kansas City, four games over Cleveland, and 4 1/2 game lead over Texas.

The Mariners and Athletics will meet for the final time in 2025 on Sunday afternoon at 1:10pm in Seattle. The two have split the first 12 meetings, six apiece and will determine the season series in the finale. For the Mariners, Opening Day starter Logan Gilbert (3-5, 3.83 ERA) will take the ball, looking for a series win. It will be Gilbert’s first start against the A’s since Opening Day when he allowed just one run on two hits over seven innings with no walks and eight strikeouts. For the A’s it will be another rookie on the mound as Jacob Lopez (7-6, 3.28 ERA) faces the Mariners for the first time. Lopez has allowed just two runs over his last 30 innings on the mound.

elisportsnetwork.com