The Athletics failed to to take the series opener up in Seattle against the rival Mariners, losing the first of three games in Seattle 3-2 to break our little 3-game win streak and start our weekend off on the wrong foot.

Tonight’s starting pitching matchup featured a couple of well-regarded arms. For the Mariners, they had budding ace Bryan Woo on the bump, an All-Star this year. And for the Athletics, they had a rookie starter who was making just his third career start tonight in Luis Morales. Very fair matchup.

The A’s were the first to get on the board tonight. Facing just the third hitter of the game Woo grooved a pitch down the middle that Athletics DH Brent Rooker did not miss, depositing the fastball down Broadway over the left center field wall for a solo home run:

The Mariners would get that run back though. After getting “squeezed” on a 2-2 fastball, Morales let a pitch dip into Eugenio Suarez’s wheel house and he tied this game up with a solo homer of his own. You be the judge on that fifth pitch:

One mistake shouldn’t cost us the game though. That would end up being the only damage the Mariners could manage against Morales, who ended up going six full innings in what was just his third career start.

That’s about as impressive of a start as one could expect from a young rookie like Morales. We see what the A’s see in him now and at this point Morales looks like he’s in the starting five the rest of the way, through thick and thin. He’s a major part of this team’s future, which is right around the corner.

Seattle would end up taking the lead against the first reliever out of the Athletics’ bullpen. Following the rookie starter was a rookie reliever in Elvis Alvarado. It was a night to forget for the young right-hander. He allowed not only the go-ahead home run to new Mariner Josh Naylor, but he’d then allow another solo blast to Jorge Polanco just two batters later to give Seattle some cushion. What once looked like a good game that could go down to the wire was now a desperate situation for the Green & Gold.

The A’s made a valiant effort at the end. Down to their final three outs and down a pair of runs, they managed to rally and push their second run of the night across home plate via an RBI single from the recently-activated Jacob Wilson:

The A’s managed to load the bases with just one out but saw their rally end there. Darell Hernaiz flew out to center field and JJ Bleday struck out swinging to end the game, dropping the Athletics to 59-71.

Well, Morales looks like the real deal. Rooker can still hit bombs. And Wilson almost looks like he never left. A lot of negatives from the defeat but tonight wasn’t a complete loss. The club does it all again tomorrow, same time same place. The Athletics will turn to lefty Jeffrey Springs to try to continue the role the A’s are on right now. He’s gotten knocked around pretty hard in his last two starts, allowing nine earned runs over just eight innings. The veteran lefty will try to get back on track tomorrow against a Mariners team he has faced three times this year. Over those three outings he’s pitched 17 innings and allowed just three earned runs. He’d like to keep that going tomorrow, but there’s some new faces in the Mariners’ lineup that won’t make it easy for Springs.

Seattle will counter the Athletics’ left-hander with righty George Kirby. One of Seattle’s plethora of promising arms they’ve acquired over the years, this season has been a slog for the former top prospect. He began the year on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, always an ominous word when discussing pitchers. He finally returned at the end of May after missing essentially two months, and he hasn’t looked like the same pitcher from the past three seasons. Overall across 16 starts the right-hander is sporting a solid but unspectacular 4.22 ERA. He got roughed up especially hard in his most recent start when he allowed seven runs to the Mets in just 4 2/3 innings of work. Maybe the A’s have timed facing him perfectly. You’ll just have to tune in tomorrow to find out!