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Taijuan Walker dominates, Oakland A’s losing streak extended to three games

By MJ Hurley

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 02: Sean Manaea #55 of the Oakland Athletics throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning of the American League Wild Card Game at RingCentral Coliseum on October 02, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 02: Sean Manaea #55 of the Oakland Athletics throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the first inning of the American League Wild Card Game at RingCentral Coliseum on October 02, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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The Oakland A’s continued to struggle, as a dominant start by Taijuan Walker led to their third consecutive defeat.

The Oakland A’s struggled on Friday night against the Seattle Mariners. After losing two straight to the Colorado Rockies, the A’s dropped the first game of their series to Taijuan Walker and the Mariners in a 5-3 loss.

Sean Manaea started off in a pitchers duel with Walker for the first three innings. Both pitchers retired the first nine batters they faced, and looked dominant to start off the matchup.

The Mariners got the action going in the fourth inning. A two run double by Kyle Seager and a throwing error by Matt Chapman would bring in the first and most important three runs of the game for Seattle.

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Manaea only lasted 4.1 innings again for the Athletics. He started off the game in command of all of his pitches and with his velocity sitting around 91 MPH. After looking like he had control of the game, Manaea again lost his handle on the opposing lineup and had to be relieved in the fifth.

Jordan Weems again gave the A’s some much needed relief help out of the bullpen. Weems threw two scoreless innings, struck out a pair, and only allowed one hit.

Offensively, the A’s struggled mightily against Walker. The Seattle righty went seven scoreless innings, struck out eight, and only surrendered one hit in a performance that left the Oakland offense embarrassed.

Marcus Semien provided the A’s with the majority of their offense in the eighth inning. A two run triple by Semien scored Tony Kemp and Stephen Piscotty. Semien then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ramon Laureano, but the Oakland rally would fall short of a comeback.

Khris Davis was again out of the lineup on Friday. Mark Canha was the designated hitter for the A’s and reached twice in his four attempts.

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The Oakland A’s will look to rebound from their three game losing streak on Saturday where Mike Fiers will take the mound against Yusei Kikuchi for Seattle.