
OAKLAND — There is no solid explanation for why the A’s home ballpark seems to bring out the worst in them.
Remember when the Coliseum was the epicenter for so many comeback wins, walk-off celebrations and feel-good moments? Nowadays, it only breeds frustration for the A’s, who absorbed a deflating 9-8 loss to the Seattle Mariners that capped off a sweep for the visitors.
The A’s lost the final four of their six-game homestand, and their 5-11 mark at the Coliseum is tied for their worst 16-game home start in their Oakland history.
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Catcher Stephen Vogt, who sees the glass as half-full better than anyone in the A’s clubhouse, couldn’t mask his disappointment at the way the team played.
“We're not happy with the way we're playing at home,” he said. “We've got to get better. The fans deserve better.”
[STIGLICH: Instant Replay: Bullpen crumbles, A's swept by Mariners]
The homestand began with promise as the A’s took two of three from the Astros. But some worrisome characteristics are beginning to surface that bring to mind the troubles of the lost 2015 season. The A’s dropped three one-run games on the homestand, leaving them 5-6 in such contests after they were showing early signs of knowing how to pull out the close ones.
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They led 8-4 Wednesday after their best offensive inning of the season, a six-run rally in the fifth that seemed to set up rookie left-hander Sean Manaea for his first career victory. But the bullpen, which has been the team’s most consistent strength, couldn’t handle the prosperity.
Ryan Dull and John Axford each surrendered homers as the Mariners scored five unanswered runs over the sixth and seventh to take control of the game.
“You get into a four-run lead like that and we have our best guys available for the game, I feel like we’re going to win that every time,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It didn’t happen today. Unfortunately that’s going to happen from time to time. It would have been a nice game to put away.”
Mariners first baseman Dae-Ho Lee delivered the dagger with his first two-homer game in the majors, connecting for a solo shot off Dull in the sixth and a go-ahead two-run blast in the seventh off Axford.
“We’ve been priding ourselves in the job we’ve been doing, stranding runners and keeping us in the ballgame and today, we didn’t do that,” Axford said. “None of us did that. … It’s just so unfortunate that it all happened for all of us on the same day.”
Manaea, who gave up four runs over five innings in his second career start, left with the 8-4 lead. After walking four in his debut, he issued just one free pass Wednesday and struck out six. But the lefty allowed five consecutive two-out hits as Seattle scored four times in the fifth to erase the A’s 2-0 lead. The rally began with Nori Aoki’s infield single that second baseman Jed Lowrie couldn’t make the charging play on.
Manaea said he began rushing a little after that.
“Maybe I don’t think about what pitch I’m going to throw the next pitch,” he said. “I’m just trying to get the next out instead of thinking about where to throw and what to throw. It’s just something I have to take into my next start if it happens again.”
The costliest blow in the fifth came on Nelson Cruz’s two-run homer, a 435-foot blast that reached the second-deck seats in center, one of the deepest homers hit at the Coliseum in several years.
“He had seen the fastball the previous six or seven pitches (during the inning), so he’s probably got the timing down,” Manaea said. “I should have mixed it up a little bit there.”
He wasn’t the only one second-guessing a pitch or two on this day.