Gage Jump opened his first major league start with a strikeout, but Seattle got to him soon after. The Mariners scored three runs in the second, added another in the fourth and beat the Athletics 4-1 on Tuesday night at Sutter Health Park.
As a result, the A’s dropped to 27-28, though they remained in first place in the AL West.
Firsts for Jump
Jump struck out J.P. Crawford to open the game for his first MLB strikeout. However, the second inning turned the night.
Josh Naylor and Rob Refsnyder singled before Mitch Garver hit an RBI ground-rule double. Then Cole Young and Crawford added sacrifice flies to make it 3-0.
Seattle pushed it to 4-0 in the fourth when Victor Robles doubled and scored on Julio Rodríguez’s single. Jump took the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits over five innings, with one walk and five strikeouts.
A’s bats stay quiet
The Athletics did not do much against Emerson Hancock, who allowed one hit across six scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out three.
The A’s had their best early chance in the fifth after Brent Rooker walked and Tyler Soderstrom singled. However, Jeff McNeil lined out, Zack Gelof popped out and Lawrence Butler grounded out.
One late swing
Soderstrom finally broke through in the ninth, homering to center off Andrés Muñoz for his sixth homer of the season. Still, the A’s finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.
Gelof had two of the Athletics’ four hits. Soderstrom added two hits, including the homer.
Bullpen keeps it close
José Suarez, Justin Sterner and Hogan Harris kept Seattle scoreless after Jump exited. Suarez worked 1 2/3 innings, Sterner followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Harris handled the ninth.
Still, the early deficit held up.
Up next
The series finale is Wednesday afternoon at Sutter Health Park. Jeffrey Springs is scheduled to start for the A’s against Seattle’s Logan Gilbert.
Springs enters 3-5 with a 4.11 ERA and 50 strikeouts. Gilbert is 2-4 with a 4.04 ERA and 63 strikeouts.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
