Rookie Logan Evans rocked, offense listless as Mariners lose to Athletics

Tim Booth, The Seattle Times on Jul 30, 2025

Published in Baseball

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WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The nature of relying on young pitchers is there are inevitably going to be mistakes. The hope is they remain minor and mostly unnoticed.

The case with Logan Evans is often in this rookie season those mistakes end up being a costly mix of loud and noticed.

Tuesday night at Sutter Health Park was another outing where Evans will lament how a handful of those little miscues ended up snowballing into another ugly pitching line and ultimately a 6-1 Mariners’ loss to the Athletics.

There’s only so much to expect from a No. 5 starter in the rotation and especially one pitching his first season in the majors. But giving up six earned runs, a pair of home runs and failing to get through the fifth inning is not going to be acceptable by Evans.

That’s now three of the last four starts where Evans has failed to finish the fifth inning. For the second time this month, he was tagged for six earned runs. And because Evans relies so much on breaking pitches rather than the fastball that most of his teammates use, one curveball that hangs or a sweeper that doesn’t spin can often have damaging results.

That was the case against the A’s. Evans gave up four runs in the third inning highlighted by Brent Rooker’s three-run homer on a 1-2 curveball that hung in the middle of the zone and was clobbered over the left field fence.

But the damage from that one swing was worse than it should have been. Evans hit Nick Kurtz with an 0-2 pitch to put runners at first and second. He also watched Rooker foul off a sweeper and a changeup before getting the hanging curveball.

Miguel Andujar added an RBI double later in the inning on an elevated changeup and ended Evans’ start two innings later with another run-scoring double.

Shea Langeliers also added a solo homer off Evans on a sweeper that spun into the middle of the strike zone.

The final line for Evans included seven strikeouts. It also included seven hits, six earned runs, two walks and a hit batter. His other start giving up six runs was at Yankee Stadium earlier this month when he trailed 2-0 before recording an out and couldn’t get through the fifth inning after hanging a curveball to Jazz Chisholm Jr. for a two-run homer.

While Evans has shown the promise of being a starter for the back of the rotation in the future, his present might not include that many more turns. Bryce Miller threw live to hitters for a second time late last week in Tacoma and an update on his rehab progression is expected Thursday.

While Evans struggled, the M’s offense was again mostly absent facing A’s starter Luis Severino. The M’s have scored three runs or less in eight of the past 10 games. Perhaps the addition of Tyler Locklear from Triple-A Tacoma will provide a little offensive spark with his arrival expected Wednesday after being removed from the Rainiers game early on Tuesday night.

The Mariners managed just one significant offensive rally with two outs in the fourth inning and only a terrific defensive play by shortstop Darell Hernaiz kept it from being a big inning. Randy Arozarena singled with two outs and immediately stole second, giving him a fifth straight season with 20 homers and 20 stolen bases. He’s one of two current players with five straight 20/20 seasons, the other being Jose Ramirez.

Arozarena scored on Jorge Polanco’s single, Dominic Canzone followed with a single and Ben Williamson walked. Cole Young worked the count to 3-2 against Severino and sent a one-hopper up the middle at 100 mph. Hernaiz, called up from the minors on Tuesday after All-Star Jacob Wilson was placed on the injured list, gloved the shot and got Young at first to end the rally and save two runs.