OAKLAND, Calif.—Mitch Garver and Luis Urías drove in four runs apiece, George Kirby struck out nine in six innings, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics 16–3 on Wednesday night.
Seattle, which entered the day 5 1/2 games back of the last American League wild-card spot, recorded a season high in runs and snapped a four-game losing streak to get back to .500 at 70–70. The Mariners scored seven times in the seventh inning to pull away, sending 12 batters to the plate. They added four more runs in the eighth.
“Just a bust-out game for everybody,” Seattle Manager Dan Wilson said. “A lot of special things that can still happen on this club in the last several games here.”
Kirby (11–10) improved to 5–0 against the A’s in his career and had eight strikeouts through the first four innings.
The 26-year-old said he made a small mental adjustment after allowing five runs in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels last week by “just ripping it” and trusting his stuff.
“I was just thinking too much the last couple weeks,” Kirby said. “I’m always at my best when I just keep it simple and just attack guys.”
Ahead by a run in the fourth, the Mariners recorded four straight two-out hits off A’s starter JP Sears (11–10) to extend the lead to 5–1. After Victor Robles reached on a double, Garver knocked in his third run of the game with a single. Urías and Dylan Moore each followed with RBI hits.
“Two-out RBIs are so big, and they’re backbreakers on the other side,” Wilson said. “Our guys put up some great at-bats and gave George what he needed in terms of the lead.”
Urías led off the seventh with a solo homer, and then the next six Mariners reached base to blow the game open. Julio Rodríguez, Randy Arozarena, and Victor Robles all knocked in runs to give Seattle a 12–2 lead.
A’s reliever Janson Junk was charged with all seven runs and did not record an out as he allowed six hits and two walks. Oakland gave up a season-high 16 runs.
“To be able to score some runs tonight was really good, but I was more impressed with how the at-bats continued throughout the seventh through the ninth,” Garver said. “Because a lot of times when you get up by eight to 10 runs, you kind of give away at-bats, but we continued to press on and scored a few more.”
The A’s, in the midst of their second-to-last homestand at the Coliseum, drew an announced crowd of 4,390.
“I’m obviously pretty upset about it,” Sears said of his outing. “We’ve been playing some good baseball, and it’s my job to give our team a chance to win the game. It got a little away from me in the fourth inning with two outs there. I felt really competitive the whole game. I felt like I had pretty good control. I actually didn’t pitch terrible, but obviously didn’t have the results.”
Lawrence Butler set an A’s franchise record when he recorded an extra-base hit for the ninth straight game with a leadoff double. Butler then scored Oakland’s first run on a single by Brent Rooker.
