A 19-1 loss on Saturday, a walk-off on Sunday
Seattle had beaten the Athletics 19-1 the night before, the largest margin of victory in Mariners franchise history. None of it carried over. Lawrence Butler lifted a two-run homer off Andres Munoz in the ninth inning in Sacramento, and the Athletics had an 8-7 win built out of a four-run hole.
It was Butler’s second home run of the afternoon. The second arrived against a closer Seattle have leaned on all year, the one arm they could hand a slim lead to without thinking about it. On Sunday it did not hold.
Randy Arozarena had done enough to win most games. Two homers, four runs driven in, including a shot off Hogan Harris in the eighth that put Seattle back in front 7-6. That lead lasted half an inning.
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The seventh inning was where the game actually turned
Seattle led 6-2 and looked like a side closing out a series split. Then Gabe Speier walked Jhonny Pereda with the bases loaded, which is the least dramatic way a run can score and often the most damaging. Butler followed with an RBI groundout. Seranthony Dominguez came in and pinch-hitter Shea Langeliers pulled a two-run single through the infield.
Four runs, not one of them on a home run, and the deficit was gone. The Athletics have made a habit of this against Seattle. Friday’s win came on a Donovan Walton homer in the 10th. Across an 11-day stretch the two clubs met seven times and the Athletics took five.
Twelve games left and five back
The arithmetic is unforgiving. Seattle sit five games behind in the American League West with 12 to play, and they have spent the past two weeks losing to a team playing for nothing. Saturday’s 19-1 night now reads as an outlier rather than a turning point.
Butler leaves the series with the swing everyone will remember. Seattle leave it needing a very different kind of week.
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