OAKLAND, Calif. -- The winning pitcher in the Mariners' final game ever played at the venerable Oakland Coliseum was from a 24-year-old kid who grew up less than three miles from the decaying concrete structure that will soon be without a baseball team for the first time since 1968.
In a delicious bit of serendipity, Bryan Woo, who was born and raised in nearby Alameda, took the mound for the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon at a place where he watched hundreds of games as a kid, even though he was actually a fan of the San Francisco Giants.
Woo gave the Mariners a start good enough to win and the Mariners slugged three homers, including a big two-run homer from Luke Raley in the top of the ninth that proved necessary in the Mariners' 6-4 victory. Seattle split the four-game series with Oakland.
"That's pretty crazy, honestly," Woo said. "Obviously, I've come to more games here than anywhere else in the world, anywhere else in my life. I can't wrap my mind around that right now, but it's sad, it's crazy. It's a lot of emotions."
With the win, the Mariners improved to 71-70 and moved to 4.5 games back of the Astros, who lost to the Reds, in the American League West standings. Seattle also moved to five games back of the Royals for the final wild card spot. After dropping four straight games on this current road trip, including back-to-back walk-off losses to start the four-game series, the Mariners looked like the better team in the final two games of the series.
They will head to St. Louis for a weekend series to wrap up the three-city road trip.
"It's a good way for us to end this series and head to St. Louis," Wilson said.
A Thursday afternoon game didn't allow for Woo to have as large of a cheering section as he might have had for a night or weekend game. But the circumstances surrounding the A's relocation to Sacramento and knowing that he would pitch in the stadium one last time had meaning to him. To him, it was always two BART stops and a free ticket away from professional baseball.
"We got a lot of free tickets and stuff from friends and family," he said. "Just a lot of times hanging out with friends and stuff in the parking lot and playing stickball and football, whatever sports out there before the game, and then come in and cause more of a ruckus. Probably watch the game, probably go hunt down foul balls and all types of stuff."
And sit in those assigned on the tickets?
"Oh God no, never," he said with a laugh.
As a high schooler, Woo was in the stands for Sean Manaea's no-hitter vs. the Red Sox in 2018 and multiple playoff games.
"Throughout the week I was just trying to walk around and look around, remembering all the memories and stuff of coming here so much as a kid," he said. "It was 'I sat here for this game and watched this game from this seat.' I tried to enjoy it as much as I could throughout the week. So that on game day I could focus on doing my job. But the last three days have been a lot."
The Mariners gave him some early run support via the long ball off A's starter Joey Estes.
With Victor Robles on third base, Cal Raleigh crushed a 93-mph fastball left over the middle of the plate, sending a majestic blast to deep right field for his 29th homer of the season.
It was Raleigh's 88th career homer, tying him with manager Dan Wilson for most in franchise history by a catcher. Of course, Raleigh reached that total in slightly fewer games and plate appearances.
"He continues to do an incredible job behind the plate and continues to contribute offensively," Wilson said. "And it's been fun to watch him."
Julio Rodriguez made it 3-0 in impressive fashion. Leading off the third inning, he ambushed a first-pitch sweeper that hung in the zone. Instead of yanking it foul or watching it go by, he launched it into the empty second deck in left field for his 14th homer of the season. Per MLB Statcast data, Rodriguez's blast traveled 448 feet, which was the third longest of his career.
"I'm just glad I could catch a barrel on that one," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez has hit the ball with authority on the current road trip with nine hits, including a double, two homers and seven RBI.
"I just feel like I'm doing the right things," he said. "I feel like I'm getting on time early, looking in the zone and kind of staying there. And I feel like that's really helped me out to continuously drive the ball and taking the bad pitches. That's something that I will continue to work on."
Woo didn't have his typical dominance over the A's. He battled a rising pitch count early in the game and actually allowed a run to score, well, two to be exact. It was something he hadn't done in his four previous outings against the local team. Woo came into the game with a 3-0 record and 21 1/3 scoreless innings pitched against the A's in his young career.
"I feel like I fell behind a lot," Woo said. "I was able to get back into some counts, but still kind of fell into some predictable situations where I kind of had to give in a little bit. I was better at what I was working on and focused on this week, being better about my secondaries and finishing counts and stuff like that. I just took too long to get there at some points and let my pitch count build a little bit."
In the third inning, he allowed a leadoff single to A's rookie and top prospect Jacob Wilson, the son of one-time Mariners shortstop Jack Wilson. Lawrence Butler followed with an infield single on a ground ball that shortstop Leo Rivas couldn't quite handle as he was covering second base on a stolen base attempt.
Woo came back to strike out Brent Rooker for the first out of the inning, but gave up a single to J.J. Bleday to load the bases. Veteran left-handed hitter Seth Brown drove in the A's first run with a sacrifice fly to center to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Mariners got the run back in the top of the fifth. Robles led off with a single, made a hustling play to advance to third when third baseman Max Schuemann mishandled a rocket ground ball for an error. Raleigh drove in his third run of the game and 87th run of the season with a sac fly to make it 4-1.
With his pitch count nearing the 80s to begin the fifth inning, Woo knew it would likely be his final inning of work. He made sure to end it on his own terms, even after giving up a solo homer to Rooker with one out that cut Seattle's lead to 4-2 and a two-out single to Brown.
Woo got Zach Gelof to fly out to center and walked off the mound while friends and family cheered his effort.
His final line: five innings pitched, two runs allowed on eight hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
When Raley smacked a two-run homer in the ninth to put Seattle up 6-2, it seemed like comfort runs. But when Andres Munoz, who has pitched sparingly on this road trip due to elbow fatigue, gave up a two-run homer to Rooker in the ninth, Raley's blast proved necessary.