The playoff-contending Seattle Mariners and host Oakland Athletics open the first of two series over the final four weeks of the season on Monday afternoon.
The Mariners will be continuing a 10-game trip when they seek to bounce back from the disappointment of consecutive one-run losses against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Mariners suffered a 5-4 walk-off loss on Saturday and a 3-2 defeat Sunday, leaving them six games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and 5 1/2 out of the final AL wild-card berth.
Seattle will get an opportunity to make up ground with 14 of its last 25 games against teams under .500, including seven against the A’s — four this week in Oakland and three to complete the regular season in Seattle.
The Mariners have taken two of three in each of their two previous series against the A’s, one on the road and one at home.
But Seattle first must rebound from its letdown against the last-place Angels before taking the field in Oakland.
“Tough series,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of the three-game series that began with a 9-5 win on Friday. “Two one-run games after the first game of the series. So some tough baseball.”
The Mariners hope right-hander Logan Gilbert (7-10, 3.09 ERA), who is scheduled to start Monday, can get things turned around. He’s winless in his past three starts, but struck out 10 in six shutout innings Tuesday in the Tampa Bay Rays’ 3-2 win.
Gilbert was a hard-luck loser in a June visit to Oakland, allowing just one earned run over seven innings in a 2-1 defeat. It was his first career loss to the A’s, dropping his record to 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA over 10 starts.
This time, he will face a fourth-place A’s team that has a significantly better record since the All-Star break (22-17) than the Mariners (17-22).
Oakland’s record had been 22-15 before a pair of walk-off defeats at Texas over the weekend, including 6-4 on Sunday when All-Star closer Mason Miller couldn’t protect a two-run lead in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The A’s also lost on a walk-off in their final game at Cincinnati on Thursday, giving them three defeats on a six-game trip by a total of four runs, compared to three wins by a total of 11 runs.
“We easily could have been 6-0 on this road trip,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said. “That’s just baseball. You’ve got to finish it off and get that last out. Overall, a split on this road trip, it doesn’t feel great, but it’s not a losing road trip.”
Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (5-3, 3.21), who last pitched Wednesday in the A’s 9-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds, will get the ball to open Oakland’s seven-game homestand. The A’s have won each of his past four starts, a stretch in which he’s gone 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA.
The second-year major leaguer has never faced the Mariners.
