BY RICK PORCARO
George Kirby pitched seven solid innings and the Mariners got home runs from Dominic Canzone, Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh as Seattle stayed in the thick of the AL West race with a 6-3 win over the Athletics Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum, completing a three game sweep.
George Kirby delivers a pitch against the Athletics during the Mariners 6-3 win Wednesday afternoon.
Kirby (11-10, 3.58) had near complete control of Oakland until Brent Rooker got to him for a two run homer in the sixth, his 27th, but Andres Munoz and Justin Topa came on to each pitch scoreless innings with Topa earning his third save.
Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez watches the flight of his fourth inning home run against the Athletics Wednesday afternoon. The blast gave Rodriguez 100 RBI’s for the first time in his career.
Canzone had a big game for Seattle with two hits and four RBI, including a two run blast off of A’s starter Joey Estes, appearing in his first Major League game. Estes showed some toughness in the early innings, working out of jams in the first and third before Rodriguez and Raleigh connected for back to back home runs in the fifth four batters before his departure. Estes line on the day showed six earned runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings with two strikeouts.
A’s starter Joey Estes prepares to throw a pitch in his Major League debut against the Mariners Wednesday afternoon. Seattle scored a 6-3 victory to sweep the three game series.
Rodriguez’ home run gave him 100 RBI’s on the season for the first time in his career, becoming just the third player age 22 or younger to hit 30 homers, steal 30 bases and drive in 100 runs, joining Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2019 and Alex Rodriguez in 1998. Raleigh’s homer was 29th.
GAME NOTES:
Seattle finished 12-1 (.923) against the A’s this season, their highest winning percentage against a division opponent in franchise history.
The loss was the A’s seventh in a row, and put them 60 games under .500 (46-106) for the first time since the end of the 1919 season, leaving them 4.5 games behind Kansas City for the worst record in the Majors.
The A’s have now been swept 19 times, the most in Oakland history, and the 106 losses trail only the 108 suffered by the 1979 team. The Athletics 53rd home loss of the season extended their Oakland record for futility.
Estes became the fifth Athletics pitcher to start in his Major League debut this season.
