By Morris Phillips
The A’s needed to have their best one-game effort of the season on Saturday in Seattle. But with King Felix throwing unhittable pitches for most of his seven innings, the A’s had to settle for an anxious, but ultimately successful, couple of innings instead.
Despite all the negativity surrounding the club in this trying stretch, the A’s made it work, pulling out a win they had to have, 3-2 in 10 innings at Safeco Field.
The winning run said it all about what it takes to prevail when a team has dropped 14 of 19 and seemingly can’t summon any offense: the A’s pushed across the game-winner by waiting out combustible reliever Fernando Rodney, who walked four batters in the decisive 10th inning, including Jed Lowrie with two outs and the bases loaded.
Coco Crisp trotted home with the winning run on Lowrie’s free pass. Luke Gregerson shook off his recent struggles to pitch a perfect ninth inning to pick up the win. And severely-missed closer Sean Doolittle came on to pick the save in the 10th, pitching for the first time since August 23 after a stint on the disabled list.
“I haven’t had an adrenaline rush like that in a really long time,” Donaldson said. “Such an emotional game.”
With the win, the A’s maintained the top spot in what figures to be a tense, three-pronged fight for the American League’s two wild cards. Oakland is currently a half-game ahead of the Royals, which would make them the home team in the one-game playoff. The Mariners are a full game behind Kansas City and after the improbable loss Saturday, needing to regroup quickly with Jon Lester on the mound for the A’s on Sunday.
“It was a tough loss for us. We need that one. Real tough, that’s all I can say,” Felix Hernandez said, after striking out eight in seven innings of work, but getting stuck with a no-decision.
Hernandez couldn’t have given the Mariners a more intimidating presence on the mound with his arsenal of bending, unhittable pitches and his excellent track record against the A’s. King Felix has registered 19 of his 124 career wins against Oakland, and was 4-0 this season against the A’s coming into Saturday’s game. But the A’s didn’t back down, getting seven hits off the Seattle ace including a solo shot from Josh Donaldson that tied the game at 1 in the sixth inning.
But when the A’s forged a 2-1 lead in the seventh, Robinson Cano responded for the Mariners with a majestic solo shot off Sonny Gray that tied the game at two.
Gray was fantastic as well, pitching eight innings, allowing two runs to give the A’s a fighting chance.
“For me, the only pitch he maybe takes back is the changeup to Cano,” manager Bob Melvin said admirably of his young starter. “Other than that, boy, he really went through a lineup. And you’re dealing with Felix on top of it.”
The A’s step right back into the cauldron on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of the series. Lester will take the ball for the A’s with 6’10” Chris Young pitching for Seattle.
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