By Morris Phillips

Given his newly-acquired ace’s trademark intensity and ever-present scowl, A’s manager Bob Melvin joked that he was afraid to walk to the mound in the seventh inning Saturday and pull Jon Lester with the A’s leading 8-3.

“He’s a big guy,” Melvin noted.

“I never liked that feeling of walking off a mound in the middle of a game,” the 6’3”, 240 lbs. Lester said. “I’d rather be able to shake the manager’s hand in the dugout but that’s just me, how I work.”

According to Melvin, Lester’s no-nonsense game day routine begins “from the moment he walks in the door.” Well known for his work ethic and his familiarity with the lineups he faces, Lester racked up 110 wins, two World Series titles and three All-Star game appearances as a Red Sox.

The lefty’s first appearance as an Athletic went pretty well, but not as sparkling as final eight starts with Boston. For the first time since June 7, Lester allowed more than two runs, with the third run on Saturday coming on pinch hitter Christian Colon’s single in the seventh that forced Melvin’s hand.

“We get so amped up for our first of everything, whether it’s your first start, first postseason start, whatever it is,” Lester said. “Now it’s just getting back to work and the job at hand and getting used to my surroundings.”

“You want to put a good foot forward, so I’m glad today went the way it did, and I’ll go back out there in five days and do it again.”

In Lester, the A’s have a true ace, according to Melvin, one of three or four best starters in the game today. And not only is Lester an ace, he’s riding a hot streak as well with his ERA over his last nine starts, including Saturday at a miniscule 1.38. Against the Royals–among his favorite opponents to face—Lester’s ERA is 1.65 in 12 career starts, the lowest of any pitcher to face Kansas City (minimum 75 innings pitched).

But the numbers that obviously flashed across GM Billy Beane’s desk as he pondered a blockbuster deal in which he traded two-time home run derby champion Yoenis Cespedes for Lester and Jonny Gomes was Lester’s ERA in the World Series: 0.59, the lowest ever, as well as his four post-season wins in the Red Sox’s 2013 championship run. If Lester’s career in Oakland lasts just a couple of months as appears likely given the king’s ransom he will be line for as a free agent in the off-season, the A’s and Beane are in position to make it the best couple of months imaginable given the A’s and Lester’s status.

That experience started Saturday as Lester picked up his first win with Oakland, backed by an eight-run fifth inning in which 12 A’s got a chance to bat. The A’s offensive explosion came after the club went 20 consecutive innings without scoring, and getting shut out on Friday, 1-0. Like so many A’s rallies in 2014, this one didn’t end soon enough for the opponent, as the A’s racked up 8 hits and needed more than 30 minutes to go through the whole process.

In that uprising, Derek Norris led off with a double, the only extra-base hit in the inning. Then Gomes reached on an infield nubber, and after the Royals recorded an out, the next five A’s delivered base hits to give the A’s a 4-1 lead. Reliever Aaron Crow, on for Kansas City starter Jason Vargas, then walked Josh Donaldson to force in a run with the bases loaded. One out later, Gomes delivered his second hit of the inning, which was misplayed by left fielder Alex Gordon turning the play into a bases-clearing experience that put the A’s up 8-1.

Among the A’s whose presence is now critical in the absence of Cespedes, newly reacquired Sam Fuld and recently disabled Josh Reddick had big afternoons. Fuld had an infield hit in the fifth inning, but he really turned heads by quickly getting his feet set on Mike Moustakas’ fly ball out in center field and throwing out Gordon at the plate in the fourth. Reddick delivered a hit, scored a run, and knocked one in, giving him 14 hits (.386) since he returned to the lineup on July 22.

The A’s turn to another ace on Sunday when Scott Kazmir takes the mound in search of his AL-leading 13th win. The Royals will counter with James Shields, looking for his 10th win, in the 1:05pm start.