Langeliers Mashes, A's Win Again in Seattle
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Before the season began, we said that the Athletics needed to split the opening series with the Seattle Mariners in order to show the rest of the AL West that they mean business in 2025.
Typically the first series of the season doesn't matter a ton in the grade scheme of a 162-game season, but the Mariners in particular had the A's number is recent seasons, including a 9-4 record over the A's in 2024. The Mariners are 47-17 against the Athletics over the past four seasons.
After Saturday night's 4-2 win over Seattle on the road, the A's have certainly announced themselves.
Starting pitching has been key for the A's to begin the year, with both new additions Jeffrey Springs and Luis Severino going six scoreless frames. On Saturday, Osvaldo Bido got into trouble in the first, loading the bases on a double, a hit by pitch, and a walk to begin the bottom of the inning.
With nobody out, Bido was able to get an assist on an unassisted double play from second baseman Max Muncy, who was playing in just his third game at the big-league level. The right-hander struck out Luke Raley to end the threat, and the scoreless streak continued.
The Mariners would get an unearned run in the second inning, as Rowdy Tellez scored from third on an errant throw to second from Shea Langeliers trying to catch the speedy Ryan Bliss.
In the top of the fourth, Langeliers (1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) would make up for it, blasting his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Athletics a 2-1 lead. That would be the only time that Seattle would hold the lead on Saturday, and it lasted a little more than one inning. Even in Thursday night's loss, the A's were either tied or ahead through the top of the eighth.
In the sixth, Miguel Andujar (2-for-4, RBI) singled up the middle to bring home JJ Bleday from second, giving the A's a 3-1 lead.
In the opener, Andujar went 0-for-3, but he hit the ball hard three times, averaging a 98 mile per hour exit velocity. He continued that trend with exit velos of 106.9 (groundout), 94.7 (single) and 104.7 (RBI single) in his first three at-bats.
As we discussed after last night's game, Bido (5 IP, 2 hits, 2 R (1 ER), 4 BB, 4 K) would end up going five in this one, and Hogan Harris came out of the bullpen with the platoon part of the order due up. Before he exited, Bido gave up a walk to Randy Arozarena (not a platoon bat), and he would come around to score thanks to a failed pick-off attempt from Harris.
That is the first run allowed by an A's starter, though an A's starter was not on the mound when it came around and crossed home plate. It also took a bad pick-off attempt to happen.
Harris would face three batters, including right-hander Mitch Garver batting for lefty Luke Raley, and Dylan Moore replacing Tellez. While we didn't nail the distance that Harris would provide out of the bullpen, the strategy certainly was accurate.
With left-hander T.J. McFarland having pitched in the first two games, the rest of the A's bullpen was right-handers, meaning that the platoon advantage wouldn't be there for the Mariners late in the game.
Rule 5 draftee Noah Murdock came on in relief of Harris to make his MLB debut with two on and one out, and got Bliss to line out and J.P. Crawford to strike out, earning the young righty his first MLB punch-out.
Noah wastes no time 👏 pic.twitter.com/oY9z9K8ZDK
— Athletics (@Athletics) March 30, 2025
The A's would take advantage of a Mariners' mistake, tacking on another run in the seventh. Jacob Wilson popped the ball up on the infield, and catcher Cal Raleigh and pitcher Collin Snider bumped into one another, allowing the ball to drop in fair territory.
Wilson ended up on second, which is one way the A's are proving that they belong. This is a young roster in a number of areas, and for Wilson, playing in his first full season to end up on second there is a good sign for the future.
Lawrence Butler grounded out to push Wilson to third, and then Brent Rooker would collect an infield single, scoring Wilson and putting the A's up 4-2. The ball off Rooker's bat was a slow roller with the infield playing back, but he turned on the turbo jets and got his team that extra cushion.
That run shouldn't have happened, but the A's hustled and earned it with a couple of small mistakes by Seattle. These are the types of things winning ballclubs do.
Murdock would work the seventh inning as well, striking out Victor Robles and walking Julio Rodríguez, but ultimately working scoreless inning.
After giving up an unearned run in Thursday's game that tied it at 1-1, Tyler Ferguson rebounded nicely on Saturday, working a clean eighth inning and striking out a pair.
In the ninth, it was Mason Miller time, and to nobody's surprise, he struck out the side. The most impressive part of his dominance was that he only needed three pitches to strike out J-Rod, and none of them were his 102 mph fastball.
Unfair.
— MLB (@MLB) March 30, 2025
Mason Miller strikes out the side for his first save of the season 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6XIUqjUjsZ
When a hitter is looking as lost with the slider as Julio was in this sequence, you just keep throwing that pitch. That's exactly what Miller did. As a user on social media put it, "a fastball so good he can strike you out by not throwing it."
The A's are 2-1 to begin the season, and while no one series over the course of a season is truly predictive, this one sure feels like this is a brand new team that can compete with just about anyone. They're doing the little things, the pitching has been largely fantastic, and they're getting big hits in key spots.
If they really want to make a statement, winning Sunday's game would be an exclamation point on this series. A split is terrific, but a series win against a tough divisional opponent would be the cherry on top.
They'll be facing Bryan Woo, arguably the toughest pitcher for the A's in this pitching staff. In six appearances against the A's, Woo holds a cumulative 0.57 ERA spanning 31.1 innings.
In five of those six he has held the A's scoreless, while in that last one he gave up two runs on eight hits in five innings.
It's a tough test for this unproven squad, but this team is different than the one that Woo has faced the past two seasons.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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