Was there a less-watched game in baseball today? Probably not. In-game attendance for the bottom-of-the-division Athletics was listed at just 4,733, and the TV numbers probably weren’t much better here in the Northwest after a dreadful, disastrous weekend series against the Angels that was likely the final nail in the Mariners’ playoff hopes. But maybe like a watched pot the Mariners offense needed fans to walk away in order to get boiling, or maybe they just needed to face the Athletics pitching staff. Who can say.
Actually, starter James Kaprielian held things together pretty well for the A’s, working into the sixth inning with seven strikeouts and just two runs on five hits.