Athletics 7, Mariners 4: Butler's Two-Run Single, Then 18 Strikeouts

September 3, 2026 - Seattle - Zack Gelof homered in the first. The Seattle Mariners scored three times before the inning ended. The Athletics still left T-Mobile Park with a 7-4 win because Lawrence Butler singled two runs home in the fifth and Oakland's bullpen struck out just about everybody who stepped in after that.

Athletics pitchers finished with 18 strikeouts. Julio Rodríguez stole three bases in a loss and made history doing it. Both things can be true on the same Thursday.

1-0, then 1-3, then the long climb

Gelof's 16th homer, to right-center, put Oakland up before Seattle batted. Jack Perkins then walked the first inning into a hole. Randy Arozarena reached. Rodríguez doubled to center, the ball deflected by Gelof in left, and Arozarena scored. Cal Raleigh singled Rodríguez home. Lazaro Montes, in his first T-Mobile Park at-bat, singled Raleigh home. 3-1 Mariners. Perkins lasted three innings, four hits, three runs, five walks, and seven strikeouts. The walks were the problem. The strikeouts were the preview.

Oakland got one back in the second when Jeff McNeil scored on a bases-loaded double play. 3-2. Kade Anderson, in his third major league start, kept the Athletics from tying it until the fifth.

That fifth is the game. Henry Bolte and Gelof were on. Two outs. Butler lined a single to center. Both scored. 4-3 Athletics. Anderson (0-1) finished five innings, seven hits, four earned runs, two walks, three strikeouts. A rookie start against a last-place club is supposed to be the easier assignment. Thursday it was the one that put Seattle in a deficit it never left.

Walton's pinch homer, Rodríguez's night, then the extras

Donovan Walton pinch-hit in the sixth and homered to right-center off Carlos Vargas, his fifth. 5-3. Rodríguez answered in the bottom half with a force-out grounder that scored Arozarena. 5-4. That was Seattle's last run.

Max Muncy singled McNeil home in the eighth. 6-4. McNeil doubled Jonah Heim home in the ninth. 7-4. McNeil finished 2-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, and a double. Gelof went 2-for-5 with two runs, a homer, and a stolen base. Butler's two-run single remained the swing that flipped the lead.

Scott Blewett (1-0) got the win with two scoreless innings and four strikeouts. Luis Medina struck out three in 1 1/3. Hogan Harris threw a clean ninth for his 14th save, two more strikeouts. Chris Roycroft had already gotten four outs after Perkins. Eighteen strikeouts as a staff is how a 55-86 club beats a team still playing for October.

Perkins' line looks worse than the night felt after the first: three innings, three runs, five walks, seven strikeouts. He survived the first and then handed a 3-2 game to a bullpen that did not hand it back. Anderson's third start ended after five. Carlos Vargas gave up Walton's pinch homer in the sixth. Oakland still found runs in the eighth and ninth.

Rodríguez went 1-for-4 with a double, two RBI, a walk, and three steals. The Associated Press noted he is the first player in major league history to start a career with five consecutive 20-homer, 20-stolen-base seasons. He did that in a loss. Seattle still dropped 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the last wild-card spot and six behind Houston in the West.

What the loss costs Seattle

The Mariners are 66-75. The Athletics are 55-86 and have now won two straight. Oakland is not in a race. Seattle still is, barely, and a 3-1 first-inning lead at home is the kind of game you have to finish in September.

Friday is Logan Gilbert (11-8, 3.42) against Kade Morris (0-1, 9.82). That is Seattle's chance to make Thursday a one-off. Rodríguez already did his part. The 18-strikeout night is what the rest of the Mariners lineup ran into.

After the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) scored Rodríguez at 11 hitting fantasy points, third among Thursday's bats, mostly on the steals and the two RBI. Oakland posted 13 team FP, tied with Houston for third. Blewett's two innings and Harris' save showed up on the pitching card. Gelof and McNeil each scored 7 hitting FP.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com gameday, MLB.com schedule, AthX Engine daily scoring for September 3, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*