Mariners offense listless again against pitching-challenged Athletics
Scoring two runs isn't going to cut it.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson can laud his team for battling in a tough loss … again. He can talk about the approach improving at the plate, the at-bats getting better and the traffic on the bases created. It's not illogical for an optimist to say it's early in the season and believe the results will improve in the warmer months ahead.
But right now, the Mariners offense has been at best inconsistent as a whole, unproductive far too often and listless once again on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.
Playing in their 25th game of the season and in front of a crowd well below the announced number of 19,092, the Mariners were held to two runs or fewer for the 10th time this season.
With their 5-2 loss to the A's, the Mariners fell to 1-9 in those games. They will try to avoid being swept in the three-game series on Wednesday afternoon with Logan Gilbert getting the start against A's right-hander Aaron Civale.
Offensively, we had some opportunities that we didn't cash in on tonight," Wilson said. "We had a lot of contact tonight. We had eight hits, so there was a lot of contact, but just not a lot to show for it. We've got to keep, keep pushing, and keep getting that traffic on there and keep giving ourselves a chance. At some point we'll start to get those runs."
Yes, Seattle's bullpen turned a 2-2 game into the three-run loss with Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier and Cole Wilcox all allowing runs.
But scoring two runs?
The lack of scoring is even more galling considering their opponent's pitching woes.
The A's, who reside in Sacramento temporarily but won't acknowledge it, came into this series with one of the worst pitching staffs in the American League. They ranked third to last in the AL in ERA (4.71), they'd issued the second-most walks (112) in baseball and have the third-highest WHIP (walks plus hits over innings pitched) in MLB at 1.50.
Yet, the Mariners mustered all of two runs. Going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position and stranding eight runners doesn't help. Combined with Monday's loss, the Mariners are 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position in the series, including hitless in their last 15 at-bats. They've stranded 15 runners in those two games.
"Nobody's ever gonna fault this team for not working hard and doing that stuff," catcher Cal Raleigh said. "But just because you work hard, it doesn't mean you get good results. So to me it's really about focusing in that two-minute stretch when you're in the box. You want guys being competitive, being warriors in the box."
The Mariners fell to 10-15 this season. It's not an ideal start, but it's not season-ending. Still, the Mariners expect more of themselves.
"It's a fine balance, right?" Raleigh said. "We all know that we want to be doing better than we are, but at the same time it's not going to help anybody in this room by trying to press and go out there and do more, try to be 'the guy.' It's happened before to good clubs. It's more under a microscope because it's beginning of the season. I have faith in this group."
The Mariners have yet to play high-quality baseball up to their standards and potential for more than a game or two. Even their four-game sweep of the Astros wasn't without a few noticeable warts. Their execution hasn't been optimal, and the little things that lead to them to victory have been missed or ignored at critical times.
"That's something that we've preached before about doing the little things and really [homing] in on that," Raleigh said. "We need to make that adjustment. I look at some of the games, and I thought we've played well, and some things have not gone our way a little bit. But it's making those little adjustments and doing the little things right. I think we were close. I don't think we're very far off."
The Mariners got an uneven outing from starter Luis Castillo.
Castillo needed 95 pitches to get through five innings. It was a frustrating battle that featured 13 three-ball counts and 24 foul balls despite throwing first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 22 batters he faced. He still gave up only two runs on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
"It's a very talented team over on that side with a lot of talented hitters," Castillo said through interpreter Freddy Llanos. "It's a team that makes a lot of contact. They made me work a lot today.
Perhaps it was an early indicator of his battle with the A's when he walked Nick Kurtz on six pitches to start the game. Kurtz stole second almost immediately and scored on Tyler Soderstrom's two-out double to right-center.
After struggling to hit the Jamie Moyer-esque stylings of A's lefty starter Jacob Lopez over the first two innings, the Mariners evened the game in the third. Rob Refsnyder and Raleigh led off the inning with back-to-back singles.
Refsnyder was able to tag up and advance to third on Julio Rodríguez's fly out to left-center and then score on Josh Naylor's sacrifice fly to center.
The A's picked up their second run off Castillo in the fourth when Jeff McNeil pulled a 1-1 changeup over the right-field wall for a solo homer. It was his third career homer off Castillo.
The Mariners tied the score again in the fifth on Raleigh's solo homer to left. It was his fourth homer of the season and his second consecutive game with a homer.
Bazardo started the sixth and gave up back-to-back doubles to Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson to allow the go-ahead run to score.
Speier gave up a solo homer in the seventh to Shea Langeliers on a misplaced, first-pitch sinker.
Wilcox pitched the final two innings, allowing a run in the ninth.
BOX SCORE
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 11:44 PM.