OAKLAND, Calif. – Even though he joyfully celebrated the Mariners’ memorable 1-0 win over the Yankees in 13 innings at T-Mobile Park, the frustration of not contributing more in the game, particularly striking out with two outs and the bases loaded in the 12th inning, burned inside of him.
In the quiet of a mostly empty clubhouse, the normally ebullient Eugenio Suarez, who lives by the motto of “Good Vibes Only,” could be heard angrily venting to his longtime teammate Jesse Winker, “I’m sick of … striking out.”
Mired in a funk since the All-Star break, which grew particularly frustrating on that previous homestand where he had just two hits in 29 plate appearances, Suarez has found those vibes and his home-run stroke on this road trip.
On Friday night, he provided a large portion of the offense, blasting a two-run homer in the fourth inning and three-run homer in the fifth inning off Oakland starter Cole Irvin, to lead the Mariners to a 10-2 drubbing over the sinking A’s.
With the win, the Mariners continue to add to their high-water mark of season, moving to 66-54 and 12 games over. 500. They are 37-15 since June 20, which is the second-best record in baseball behind the Dodgers, who were 41-11 coming into the weekend.
The Mariners continued their dominance over the A’s, winning their 10th straight game at the Oakland Coliseum dating to last season. The Mariners improved to 8-3 vs. Oakland this season and are 24-7 against the A’s over the past two seasons.
With the Mariners trailing 2-1 in the fourth inning, Suarez launched a hanging slider into the empty staircase behind the left-field seats for his 21st homer to make it 3-2.
Suarez made the A’s and shortstop Nick Allen pay for booting what should’ve been an inning-ending double play on Mitch Haniger’s hard ground ball in the sixth. A frustrated Irvin left a sinker in the middle of the plate, which Suarez deposited over the wall in dead center for his 22nd homer.
The excess run support was plenty for Mariners starter Marco Gonzales and the bullpen.
Gonzales wasn’t as sharp as hoped, pitching 51/3 innings and allowing two runs (one earned) with two walks and a strikeout.
He couldn’t finish the sixth inning when Suarez had given him a 6-2 lead with his second homer of the game, allowing a pair of singles to start the inning and issuing a one-out walk. Manager Scott Servais wasn’t going to take any chances. He went to rookie right-hander Matt Brash to clean up the mess.
Brash struck out pinch-hitter Vimael Machin and got Tony Kemp to ground out to end the inning.
Irvin pitched six innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on six hits with two runs and two strikeouts, which is an improvement against a team he infamously said he shouldn’t allow hits to last season.
In five previous starts vs. the Mariners – all in 2021 – Irvin had a 0-5 record with an 8.69 ERA, allowing 19 earned runs on 35 hits in 192/3 innings with 10 walks, a hit batter and 14 strikeouts.