OAKLAND -- The Mariners¡¯ 11-2 loss Saturday to the Oakland A¡¯s was as informative as it was ugly.

Unredeeming as the lopsided final score appeared from the Mariners¡¯ perspective, the game provided additional data for manager Scott Servais and the club¡¯s braintrust as they continue to weigh the merits of using an ¡°opener¡± instead of a traditional starting pitcher.

? Box score

In five of the six games this year when the Mariners employed an opener -- including Yusei Kikuchi¡¯s abbreviated start on April 26 -- they paired the opener with either Wade LeBlanc or Tommy Milone, both left-handers. LeBlanc¡¯s turn as the ¡°bulk¡± pitcher, so named because the opener¡¯s successor handles the bulk of the innings, arrived Saturday. As the final score indicated, the arrangement didn¡¯t work well.

Gerson Bautista stumbled from the gate, walking three of the seven batters he faced and allowing three runs in two-thirds of the first inning. LeBlanc sustained Bautista¡¯s ineffectiveness by surrendering six runs in 2 2/3 innings. Of the eight hits LeBlanc yielded, five went for extra bases -- four doubles and Marcus Semien¡¯s homer in Oakland¡¯s five-run fourth inning.

¡°It just seemed like they were on everything I threw,¡± said LeBlanc, who surmised that A¡¯s hitters waited for offspeed deliveries. ¡°If they¡¯re looking for what I was throwing, and I¡¯m not making an adjustment, that¡¯s embarrassing.¡±

Seattle also committed four errors in the penultimate game of its three-city, nine-game road trip, over which they are 4-4.

¡°Just kind of a sloppy, sloppy game,¡± Servais summarized. ¡°We hadn¡¯t seen that in a while. We?were playing pretty good ball on this road trip -- very competitive in almost [every] game. Not so much tonight.¡±

This likely won¡¯t end the Mariners¡¯ experimentation with openers. Before the game, Servais indicated that the club will remain open-minded on the strategy.

¡°The guys who have taken the bulk of the innings on that day, both Tommy and Wade, have pitched very well,¡± Servais said. ¡°In the foreseeable future, we¡¯ll probably stick with it. I¡¯m not saying we¡¯re married to it for the entire season. But for where we are right now, I think it¡¯s been a good solution, and it¡¯s gotten both of those guys throwing really well.¡±

After the game, Servais¡¯ perspective was unchanged.

¡°I still believe in [the opener]¡± he said. ¡°It just didn¡¯t work out for us tonight.¡±

Statistical comparisons of LeBlanc, Milone and the openers themselves, before and after Seattle began using them, are pointless due to the small sample sizes.

It¡¯s true that both LeBlanc and Milone delivered their best efforts of the season with an opener¡¯s assistance. Last Wednesday, Milone recorded his first quality start of the season after following Bautista, who went scoreless in 1 2/3 innings. Two outings ago, LeBlanc subdued the formidable Astros for eight innings, allowing one run and three hits after Cory Gearrin allowed three first-inning runs.

The concept of an opener reflects the growing belief that starters have become increasingly unable to adjust their pitching patterns or summon enough strength to face a batting order three times or more. Ideally, the opener works one or two innings before the erstwhile starter lasts through the seventh or eighth to place the outcome in the bullpen¡¯s collective hand. That explains the soaring value of relievers in recent seasons.

¡°You gotta get outs no matter when they are,¡± LeBlanc said. ¡°If they give me the ball, I gotta get outs with it.¡±