Andres Munoz hangs on for save No. 30 as Mariners beat A's to snap skid

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Aug 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SEATTLE — The formula for their success isn’t complicated. Get a quality start, hit a homer or two to provide just enough offense to get a lead and let the lockdown arms in the bullpen close out the win.

On a pleasant Friday evening with a large crowd filling T-Mobile Park, the Seattle Mariners followed that formula for the most part, picking up a much-needed 3-2 victory over the A’s.

It wasn’t without drama. Given a 3-1 lead in the ninth Andres Muñoz allowed three consecutive one-out singles that allowed the A’s to cut the lead to one run. But he was able to get Darrell Herdaiz to hit a shallow fly ball to center that wasn’t deep enough for the A’s to tag up and score on. Julio Rodriguez made sure of it with a stellar throw to home, that sent Tyler Soderstrom scurrying back to third after initially thinking about trying to score.

Muñoz ended the drama, striking out J.J. Bleday to end the game and notch his career-high 30th save of the season.

The Mariners (69-60) remained two games behind the Astros (71-58) in the AL West standings.

Seattle looked nothing like the team that slogged its way through a miserable East Coast road trip, losing six of the nine games, including the last five games coming into the homestand. During those three series, the Mariners starters were largely inefficient and ineffective, the bullpen was shaky to suboptimal while the hitting was abysmal and laden with strikeouts.

Was it as simple as playing a team tracking toward 90-plus losses? Indeed, the A’s are nowhere near the level of the New York Mets or Philadelphia Phillies in terms of talent or production. However, the Mariners came into Friday with a 5-5 record vs. the A’s. It certainly helped returning to T-Mobile Park and the climate of the Pacific Northwest, leaving the soul-crushing heat and humidity of the East Coast.

“It’s just good to get a lot of the good vibes here at home and hopefully take advantage of that tonight and get off to a really good start,” manager Dan Wilson said pregame.

Seattle improved to 38-25 at home this season and has won 11 of its last 12 games at T-Mobile.

But realistically, the Mariners simply played closer to their capabilities, something that was lacking in every aspect on the road trip.

It started with the starter. Woo was outstanding, pitching seven innings and allowing one run on one hit with two walks and seven strikeouts to improve to 11-7 on the season. Woo has now pitched six innings or more in each of his 25 starts this season, something no other pitcher has done.

Woo’s one hit allowed came in the first inning. With two outs, he fired a 98-mph fastball to Brent Rooker with a full count. Rooker crushed it deep over the wall in left-center for his 26th homer of the season. In his career vs. Woo, Rooker has three hits in 23 plate appearances. All three hits are solo homers.

The Mariners offense did little over the first five innings against A’s rookie starter Luis Morales, who was making his third MLB start. The hard-throwing 22-year-old didn’t allow a runner over the first five innings.

But his bid for perfection ended in the sixth inning when Eugenio Suarez smashed a solo homer to left field to tie the game. It was the first homer Morales allowed in the big leagues.

The Mariners took the lead in the seventh against the A’s bullpen. Josh Naylor put Seattle ahead, ambushing a first-pitch slider from Elvis Alvarado, sending a deep drive into right field for a solo homer. It was the 100th homer of Naylor’s career.

Two batters later, Jorge Polanco provided what would be an important insurance run, hitting another solo homer to right field off Alvarado for a 3-1 lead.