SEATTLE — The Mariners turned a tight race into a fresh opportunity Tuesday night, beating the Athletics 4-1 and taking the series from the AL West leaders. One win later, Seattle could wake up Wednesday alone in first place if it completes the sweep.
The damage came early and kept the pressure on all night. Josh Naylor and Rob Refsnyder opened the second inning with singles, Mitch Garver doubled into the left-field corner and Cole Young drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Victor Robles added a single in the inning for a 3-0 lead, then doubled to start the fourth before Julio Rodríguiz ripped a rocket single to left to make it 4-0. Seattle finished with 11 hits and a walk, and every Mariners starter either reached base or drove in a run.
Emerson Hancock gave the lineup room to breathe by nearly running through the Athletics’ order without a blemish. He was perfect through four innings and had used just 37 pitches to get that far, a startlingly efficient start for a game with division stakes hanging over it. The first crack came in the fifth, when he worked out of a jam after a walk and a single. In the sixth, he walked a batter and hit another before getting out of the inning, leaving the outing more labor than the early score suggested.
The bullpen held the shape of the game, but not without a reminder that nothing in the ninth is easy. José Ferrer worked around a single in the seventh, and Gabe Speier, back for his first game from the injured list, got through the eighth after a hit by pitch and struck out Nick Kurtz to end his 48-game on-base streak. Andrés Muñoz then took over with a 4-0 lead and gave up a home run in the ninth that trimmed it to 4-1, a late jab that did little to change the outcome but kept the finish honest.
The result mattered because the Athletics came in first in the division and left with that edge badly dented. Seattle is still under.500, which makes the climb look strange on paper, but the standings do not care about aesthetics. They care about wins, and the Mariners have one of the biggest ones they could ask for in hand. If they finish the sweep Wednesday, they will not just have chased down the first-place club. They will have passed it.
