Mariners fall to Athletics, lose ground in AL West race

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Sep 4, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — It’s only easy if they play well.

For those maintaining the perhaps foolish hope that the Seattle Mariners might sneak their way into the postseason by winning the American League West, the optimistic justification has always centered on the remainder of their regular season schedule.

Starting with Thursday’s homestand opener vs. the A’s, the Mariners were playing 17 of their final 22 games against the three worst teams in MLB.

But here’s the reality of the 2026 Mariners based on the 140 games leading up to Thursday, the distance between them and the dregs of Major League Baseball isn’t quite as wide as the on-paper talent gap or overall record.

Their season-long inconsistency when it comes to focus, execution and production has highlighted their inadequacies. They are capable of beating good teams as proven by series wins over the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox.

But they are also quite susceptible to losing winnable games to bad teams due to their own failures like Thursday’s dismal 7-4 loss to the A’s.

There was a smattering of justified boos from the crowd of 27,368.

Yes, A’s have the second word record in the American League at 55-86, just ahead of the Angels. But are they really that much worse than the Mariners? Since July 7, the A’s have a 14-37 record while the Mariners are 19-31.

With the Houston Astros (72-69) defeating Luis Castillo and the Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers (70-71) shutting out the Tampa Bay Rays, the Mariners (66-75) fell back six games behind Houston in the division and 2.5 behind the Rangers.

The Mariners scored three runs in the first inning, but should have had more against A’s starter Jack Perkins. It would start a bad trend of failed execution with runners on base that plagued them all night.

They struck out a season-high 18 times and stranded a dozen base runners.

Meanwhile, after an middling start from rookie Kade Anderson, the Mariners bullpen couldn’t prevent an A’s lineup missing their four best hitters due to injury from adding runs in the later innings to make a comeback that much more difficult.

Anderson’s third start as a big league represented a major test. The rookie left-hander took the mound having pitched five days earlier.

It’s not something he had done as a pro. Similar to his college schedule at LSU, Anderson was essentially a Friday night starter at Double-A Arkansas. With minor league baseball having a universal off-day on Mondays, it was easy for the Mariners to slot Anderson to pitch every Friday.

The initial results Thursday weren’t necessarily positive. Anderson struggled with his command and the velocity and life on his pitches was slightly down from his first two outings. Anderson’s final line: five innings pitched, four runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He worked only one clean inning — the fourth.

Zack Gelof, the second batter Anderson faced, ambushed a first-pitch, 94-mph fastball left over the middle of the plate for a solo homer and an early 1-0 lead.

The Mariners responded with their three runs in the bottom of the first off Perkins with Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Laz Montes driving in runs.

The A’s got a run back immediately in the second, loading the bases with no outs. Anderson got a big double play to reduce the damage.

Anderson had a chance to get through five complete innings with a 3-2 lead when he got Max Muncy to pop out to first for the second out of the inning.

But that third out wouldn’t follow immediately.

Anderson walked leadoff hitter Henry Bolte on four pitches, all noncompetitive misses.

Gelof followed with a single to left field to put the go-ahead run on base. With runners on first and third, Gelof took advantage of Anderson not really paying attention to him at first, stealing second immediately. That extra base loomed large when Lawrence Butler laced a single to center, scoring both runners for a 4-3 lead.

Down a run, Carlos Vargas gave up a solo homer to former Mariner Donovan Walton in the sixth.

Eduard Bazardo’s struggles continued. He was fortunate to allow only one run in the eighth, having to work out of a self-created situation with the bases loaded.

Lefty Hoby Milner allowed another run in the ninth to push the A’s lead to three runs.