Athletics at Seattle Mariners

At long last, the meat of the Mariners' order has delivered. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor strung together consecutive base hits that lifted Seattle to a 5-4 walk-off victory over the A’s. It wasn’t just that the Mariners needed this win, which avoided a sweep. They needed *this* breakthrough from *these* guys. Entering Wednesday, that trio was hitting a combined .195 with a .596 OPS over 315 plate appearances. Their struggles had been the offense’s most glaring amid what’s now an 11-15 start. It’s been more magnified because it’s been all of them scuffling -- and all at once. "You work hard to get those results,” said Naylor, who registered his first career walk-off hit in Seattle. “It's a hard game we play. It's arguably the hardest sport. We chose to play it -- and we're idiots for choosing it -- but we did. And we have decided to come to this ballpark every day and grind."