SEATTLE — Mike Leake certainly wasn’t the biggest-name pitcher to enter the American League West in the past couple of days, but he means an awful lot to the postseason hopes the Mariners cling to.
The A’s gave the right-hander a rude welcome in the first inning Friday night, then they let him get all too comfortable in his Seattle debut. Leake lasted seven innings and held Oakland to just the two runs in a 3-2 Mariners victory that sent the A’s to their fourth consecutive loss.
With the postseason out of reach this season, the A’s are at least catching a glimpse of the shifting pitching landscape in the AL West.