Mariners beat A’s in first game since being eliminated from playoff contention
SEATTLE – A team that once led the division by 10 games and was eliminated from postseason consideration 24 hours earlier welcomed a team that had just said goodbye to its home of 59 seasons for the final three games without consequence to end the 2024 season.
Meaningless baseball as summer days chilled to fall evenings was once a seemingly annual rite for the Mariners for far too many years.
But in recent seasons, starting in 2021, Seattle’s push for postseason qualification, though largely unfilled, meant meaningful games until the final day of the season.
It all felt a little different in the hours leading up to Friday’s series opener vs. the Oakland A’s. Bags were being packed in preparation for the offseason and lockers were being cleared of extraneous gear and junk.
The continued and stubborn hope that they might find a way into the postseason when logic said otherwise was noticeably absent from manager Dan Wilson’s voice in his pregame meeting.
“These last three games, you know, I don’t think anything’s shifted all that much,” Wilson said. “To be honest, I think our focus is to win these three games. They’re just as important as the other ones. It doesn’t have the playoff carrot at the end. But this is what we’re about. We want to win. And these three are about that. We want to finish this season on a strong note.”
The Mariners did that, rolling to a 2-0 shutout over the A’s on Friday.
Making his final start of a breakout 2024 season that was delayed and later halted by minor injury, right-hander Bryan Woo pitched five scoreless innings, allowing three hits while issuing one walk and striking out eight batters.
In 22 starts this season, Woo posted a 9-3 record with a 2.89 ERA. In 121⅓ innings pitched, Woo struck out 101 batters with only 13 walks.
Born and raised in Alameda, California, which neighbors Oakland, Woo has dominated his hometown team in his brief MLB career.
In six starts vs. the A’s, he has a 5-0 record with a 0.57 ERA. In 31⅓ innings pitched, he’s allowed two earned runs while striking out 34 batters and walking seven.
The offense was provided by solo homers from two hitters wrapping up different seasons.
Mitch Garver smashed a solo homer off Oakland starter J.P. Sears in the second inning for a 1-0 lead.
It was Garver’s 15th homer in a forgettable season that saw him lose his full-time designated hitter role and eventually settling into a back-up catching role behind Cal Raleigh, who has started more games (123) and caught more innings (1,105) than any catcher in baseball.
Raleigh provided the second run of support in the third inning, with a solo homer off Sears. It was his 32nd homer of the season, driving in his 97th run of the season – both team highs by a wide margin and reasons he named the Mariners’ most valuable player by the Seattle chapter of the BBWAA before the game.
Rookie Troy Taylor picked up his first major league save, working a scoreless ninth inning.