Athletics Survive Raleigh's Heroics, Escape Seattle 7-6

Logan Gilbert struck out 10 batters and still lost, surrendering 7 earned runs on 8 hits in 4.2 innings as Oakland's lineup turned his start into rubble. Four Athletics homered in the third inning alone, and that avalanche proved just enough to hold off a Seattle team that refused to quit.

Seattle drew first blood in the second, when a double to right scored Raleigh and a Crawford single plated Young to make it 2-0. Then the third inning happened — and it happened fast. Muncy went deep to left (349 feet), Williams followed with another to left (356 feet), and suddenly it was tied. McNeil then launched a two-run shot to right (362 feet) to put Oakland ahead 4-2, and Gelof capped the barrage with a 398-foot blast to left. Four home runs, five runs, one inning. Gilbert was done by the fifth, having allowed all seven of Oakland's runs.

Seattle clawed back in the bottom of the third. A groundout scored Rodden, and then Cal Raleigh — who had already scored twice — crushed a two-run homer to right center (373 feet) that scored Arozarena and knotted the game at 5. That swing was the biggest momentum shift of the night in the wrong direction for Oakland: Seattle's win probability jumped from 47% to 70% on that single swing. The game looked like it was slipping away from the Athletics entirely.

But Oakland answered in the fifth. Gelof tripled to right to score Williams, then Butler singled to center to score Gelof, and just like that the Athletics had rebuilt a two-run cushion at 7-5. The story of the night was Oakland's ability to punch back every time Seattle threatened. Raleigh — who finished 2-3 with a homer, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored — made it a one-run game again in the eighth when Naylor singled to center to plate him, but that was as close as Seattle would get. Geoff Hartlieb and Hogan Harris combined for 2.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to close it out, and Oakland walked away with a 7-6 win. Gelof (2-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R) and Muncy (3-4, HR, 1 RBI) look like the offensive engines that drove this one, but the real takeaway appears to be simpler: the Athletics hit five home runs and needed every single one of them.