Five of the eight runners that scored in Thursday night’s matchup between the Athletics and the Mariners got on base via the free pass. The difference, unsurprisingly, was that the Mariners were able to limit their issued walks, while the Athletics couldn’t.
The third inning illustrated this perfectly. The Mariners, trailing 1-0, started the inning with back to back singles from two of their top 10 prospects, Evan White and Braden Bishop. A couple batters later, Mitch Haniger after A.J. Puk threw a wild pitch in the dirt, allowing White to score from third and putting runners on the corners with just one out.