Mariners end shortened season with loss to A’s, but have set up ‘good foundation’ for future
The Mariners will enter this offseason will a lot to look forward to from a young group that showed glimpses of an exciting future for baseball in Seattle in this abbreviated season.
Though they lost their season finale Sunday afternoon in Oakland, 6-2, the Mariners (27-33) split their final series with the American League West champion A’s, finished just behind the Astros, ending the season in third place in the division, and remained in playoff contention until the final few days.
“Man, I wish we could have seen this team over 162 games,” Mariners ace Marco Gonzales said on a postgame video call from the Oakland Coliseum after this 60-game season came to an end. “Bittersweet for sure. I think we learned a lot about ourselves this year, and really set up a good foundation to go into the offseason and into next year.
“I think the best thing that we can take from this is we’ve allowed guys to find who they are, and be comfortable in a leadership position and go forward and grow. I think that that’s invaluable for us right now.”
The growth this young Mariners team showed as they settled into the season, and the results that development produced, is why Mariners manager Scott Servais didn’t want this short season to end.
After a seven-game losing streak had the Mariners sitting at 7-18 three weeks in, they won 12 of their next 16, and were suddenly in the postseason mix midway through September. The Mariners finished .500 against division opponents this season, but 14-6 against the AL West since Aug. 21.
“I think one of the things that’s probably toughest for everybody is, I think everybody feels really strongly about how we played against the teams in our division here in the last 30-35 games,” Servais said. “We’re right there. And I think everybody in American League West knows it as well.
“And you couldn’t say that last year at this point. We were still in transition with our roster. But I think, as people see how we are built out, and how competitive we are going to be and how many games we are going to win, people are taking notice. Our team feels that, I know our coaching staff does, the whole organization, and people outside the organization are taking notice as well.”
And the Mariners made these significant strides in an unprecedented season played during a pandemic.
“I think this year for all of us has thrown things our way we never could have expected, both on and off the field,” Gonzales said. “And with COVID and everything, all the challenges that presented, our group did a phenomenal job of just hanging tough in there, and just coming every day with a great attitude, with a great energy.
“We had some really tough protocols, some things that really changed routines and we could have let that get us down, and could have taken us down a bad path but we didn’t. We had some good leadership, and I thought we really, really stuck true to each other, and became unified through that.”
And the optimism heading into this offseason is higher than it has been in the past.
“The thing that feels most different is, I know that the majority of those players in that locker room are going to be in spring training with us,” Servais said. “We’ve made the step through the transition, and we’re going to continue to add, of course, talented players, maybe some veteran players here or there to help out, but the core of our group is going to be back. So, the messaging and all the things that we’ve tried to hammer on this year, as far as our process goes and what’s important to us, we’ve laid the foundation, now we can just build upon that.”
The Mariners led early Sunday, but the A’s jumped on their bullpen in a tie game in the seventh to take a lead they never lost.
Seattle native Jake Lamb gave the A’s the decisive run against veteran reliever Yoshihisa Hirano with a solo homer to lead off the inning, and Mark Canha hit a two-run double later in the inning to make it 5-2. And Oakland scored once more in the eighth, when Canha walked with the bases loaded against Yohan Ramirez.
Gonzales entered the afternoon with a chance end his season with six consecutive wins after recording wins in each of his five most recent starts, dating back to Aug. 25 in San Diego. But, his team-high 11th and final start of this shortened season didn’t pan out that way.
Gonzales’ pitch count climbed as he worked through five complete innings, allowing two runs on six hits while walking one and striking out five on 97 pitches.
“Maybe not the best stuff that we’ve seen him have, but doing what he always does — he gives us a chance to win,” Servais said. “He’s right there and I was hoping he could leave with the lead. ... But, what a season he had, really from the first start through the 11th start. Very consistent. True gamer and real competitor, and that’s what we love about him.”
After the Mariners grabbed a one-run lead in the first, the A’s promptly tied the game on a grounder by Canha. Seattle took a one-run lead again in the second, and Gonzales held it there until his final inning in the fifth, working around some traffic in three scoreless frames. The A’s ultimately took Gonzales out of line for a possible win in the fifth. Sean Murphy opened the frame with a long fly ball to center that the A’s challenged as a homer. It was ruled a double, but Murphy eventually scored anyway on a single by Chad Pinder with two outs, tying the game at 2-2.
Gonzales’ season ERA had dipped just below 3.00 before Pinder’s RBI single, but he still finishes with a career-low 3.10 ERA this season, and a team-best 7-3 record. His 9.14 strikeout-to-walk rate led the majors this season, while his 0.90 walks per nine innings ranked second.
“For how different this year was, I am proud of the fact that I came in every start the same way, stuck to my consistent approach, and just put my head down and went to work,” Gonzales said. “I think the thing that I’m most proud of is the guys around me who just stepped up and followed that lead, and found themselves and really grew into big league pitchers and big league players.”
After combining for 17 runs in Saturday’s doubleheader, Seattle’s offense was much less productive against A’s starter Frankie Montas and the club’s seasoned bullpen.
The Mariners managed a pair of runs off Montas, twice taking the lead on a Ty France single in the first and J.P. Crawford single in the second, but recorded only four hits off of him. Montas struck out 13, including striking out the side in his final frame in the sixth.
Oakland’s bullpen was even more daunting, retiring nine of the 10 batters they faced to end the game.
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 3:28 PM.
