Sean Murphy wins the MVP in the Seattle Mariners victory

The Seattle Mariners won 4-3 last night against the Oakland Athletics but the player of the game doesn’t go to a Mariner. The MVP award from last night goes to the A’s catcher Sean Murphy and the runner-up for the MVP goes to Jake Diekman.

Thanks to their seventh-inning battery, it gave the Seattle Mariners a lead late in the game and it turned out to be just enough.

The wild pitch fest in the 7th gave the Seattle Mariners the lead

Wild pitches? Or passed balls? Still, something I can never really figure out even as a former catcher. Regardless, the 7th inning with two outs was not so kind to Oakland, or was it a lack of focus?

After Jake Diekman got Luis Torrens to ground out on two pitches, struck out Jarred Kelenic on three pitches, and got Dylan Moore into an 0-2 count, it seemed like the inning was over.

But, D-Moore was able to reach on a check-swing infield single. Dylan Moore then took advantage of Diekman’s high leg kick and stole second base with ease. After that, Diekman threw a ball in the dirt and Sean Murphy wasn’t able to keep it in front, which advanced Moore to third.

And then on a 3-0 pitch to Shed Long Jr. the Athletics reliever threw another ball in the dirt. This time, Sean Murphy got lazy and tried to pick it with his glove. That mistake led to another wild pitch (should be a passed ball) which got Dylan Moore to home plate.

All jokes aside, there were some great performances from the Seattle Mariners

Obviously, the MVP goes to the 7th inning battery, but there were a couple of Mariners that kept us in this tight ballgame. First off, kudos to Yusei Kikuchi for going six innings and allowing just three runs. He also struck out a career-high 12 batters yesterday.

Also big shoutout to the Seattle Mariners catching prospect Cal Raleigh. He hit his first MLB home run in the second inning and drove in two runs to give the team an early lead against a tough opposing pitcher.

Raleigh also showed off his arm again by throwing out Ramon Laureano who tried to steal second base in the second inning.

And right after Raleigh’s homer, Luis Torrens also took Frankie Montas deep. He hit a low line drive over the right-field wall for his 12th of the year.

The last tip of the cap goes to the almighty Seattle Mariners bullpen. Erik Swanson came into the 7th inning and got into a bit of trouble but Paul Sewald was able to bail him out. Sewald also pitched a clean 8th inning and struck out two.

And then he passed it off to Kendall Graveman in the 9th to seal the Seattle Mariners win. Yesterday’s victory was a big one for the team making the series an even one-to-one.

The Seattle Mariners take on the Athletics for two more games before hosting the Astros for three. Logan Gilbert takes the mound tonight against Chris Bassitt, a 2021 All-Star.