WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – New guys. Role players. Guys who have been around a while.
It doesn’t matter about their history or longevity with the Mariners right now. Seemingly someone is coming through no matter what.
This time it was the trio of Rowdy Tellez, Leody Taveras and Dylan Moore who provided the three biggest swings as the Mariners rallied for a 6-5 win over the Athletics on Wednesday afternoon at Sutter Health Park.
The M’s overcame a rough first inning from Bryan Woo and pieced together three big offensive moments to extend their streak of consecutive series victories to nine straight after taking the final two games against the A’s.
It’s the longest streak of series wins by the Mariners since winning 15 straight in 2001. You remember that season, right?
“That’s just how you win games,” Tellez said. “We’re a tight-knit group, and they’ve obviously been tighter for longer than I’ve been a part of. But that’s something we do. We don’t give up. We fight tooth and nail to the end and I think today showed (it).”
The inaugural visit to the A’s temporary three-year home in the Sacramento ended with three close, competitive games of two teams growing in confidence in their own ways.
For the Mariners, there was the frustration of a winnable game Monday night falling in 11 innings, followed by the ninth-inning heroics of Cal Raleigh on Tuesday and then Wednesday’s rally when it wasn’t necessarily the stars of the lineup providing the key moments.
“It’s typical of this group. This is an incredible group. We keep saying it over and over again, but those are the kinds of things you see from this group,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said.
The M’s trailed 5-0 and had done nothing going against A’s rookie Gunnar Hoglund until Moore singled and scored on Ben Williamson’s double in the fifth inning.
One inning later, Tellez provided the M’s the jolt they needed with a three-run homer off A’s reliever Mitch Spence. The homer came on a 3-2 pitch after Raleigh and Randy Arozarena walked.
Tellez grew up about 15 miles from Sutter Health Park. Triple-A baseball with the River Cats arrived in town when he was 5 years old. He used to walk the warning track for Little League day and recalled taking a school field trip to the ballpark to watch a game as a kid.
He stayed at home during the series rather than at the team hotel and had friends and family dotting the stands.
So, yes, homering in that situation was a bit more meaningful than just making it a one-run game.
“It’s cool to see all my people and be here. You know, the closest I ever played to home was Oakland, so to be able to come play here in the big leagues was pretty special,” Tellez said.
Taking the lead in the eighth was even more unexpected.
Taveras, barely 12 hours after arriving at the team hotel in Sacramento following the M’s claiming him on waivers, punched a 1-2 pitch from Noah Murdock through the left side of the A’s infield and scored pinch-runner Miles Mastrobuoni. Arozarena walked for the second time in the game – his third time on base – and Mastrobuoni stole second to get into scoring position for the new Mariner to deliver a first big moment in his new uniform.
Taveras then jogged home when Moore doubled to right-center to give the Mariners the lead.
On Tuesday night, the Mariners waited until the ninth to put together their winning rally. A day later, it was an inning earlier.
“We talked about little things a lot and that’s what we’re seeing – little things all over the place from everybody,” Wilson said. “This is what happens when you do those things.”
Andrés Muñoz allowed a leadoff single to Luis Urias in the ninth and went 3-2 on Seth Brown before getting a strikeout. Pinch-hitter Shea Langeliers’s fly ball to left was caught but Muñoz still had to face Jacob Wilson, who already had four hits on the day.
But Wilson was left frozen by a Muñoz slider to end it for his 13th save. In 18 appearances Muñoz has yet to allow an earned run.
The late rally meant Woo remained unbeaten in his career against the A’s despite a day where he was knocked around for a season-high five runs and eight hits.
Woo loved pitching against the A’s in Oakland when he was just a few miles from his hometown of Alameda. In three career starts in Oakland against the A’s, Woo was 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA.
“Coming here, especially the first two days, not being in the Coliseum, not being able to go home and see family and things like that, that was definitely different,” Woo said.
He did not enjoy the beginning to his first outing against the A’s in their temporary home in West Sacramento 90 miles inland.
Woo’s problems started immediately with Wilson beginning his big day with an infield single. By the time the first inning was over, Tyler Soderstrom had added an RBI single and JJ Bleday ripped a two-run double. The three first-inning runs matched the total number of earned runs Woo had allowed in 37 1/3 career innings against the A’s entering the day.
In the fourth, Lawrence Butler homered on the first pitch and Wilson’s RBI double gave the A’s a 5-0 lead at that point.
Of all the pitches, Woo was most upset about the location of an elevated fastball to Bleday.
“It’s got to be a better pitch with two strikes,” he said.
Woo still managed to get through six innings continuing his streak of reaching that mark in every start this season. He struck out the side in the sixth and finished with six K’s on 100 pitches.
Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier provided the bridge to Muñoz as the M’s allowed only three base runners the final five innings.
“It’s just consistency,” Woo said. “You get down early, you get up early, it’s just kind of keep playing the game. Put up zeros on defense and keep the pedal to the metal on offense. And, yeah, it’s been a lot of fun.”