by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Oakland A’s knew they needed to win the series in Seattle in order to keep the number one Wild Card position and to keep the surging Seattle Mariners at bay. On Sunday, the A’s four pitchers combined for a shutout and the Oakland batters used well time hits to defeat the Mariners 4-0 to take the series two games to one.

John Lester took the mound for the Athletics and had to work very hard during his six innings of pitching. Lester allowed only four hits, but he also allowed four walks while striking out seven Mariner hitters. Lester had to deal with base runners in every inning but the sixth inning. He also had to throw 110 pitches (63 strikes) in those six innings of work. Lester was awarded the win and his record improves to 15-10.

The A’s got on the board early as Sam Fuld took a Chris Young fastball over the right field fence in the first inning. The A’s would not score again until seventh inning of the game. Young pitched 6.0 innings giving up two runs (both earned) on four hits but two of those four hits were home runs. With the loss, Young’s record fell to 12-8 on the season.

The A’s protected a one run lead through six innings. Then in the top of the seventh, Brandon Moss led the inning off with his 24th home run of the season. It was Moss’ first home run in 39 games. If Moss’ bat can come alive, it will be a major boon for the Athletics down the stretch.

Oakland added two insurance runs in the top of the eighth inning. Coco Crisp led off the inning with a hit to left field that he turned into a double with his speed. Sam Fuld  then hit a pitch to the opposite field (left) that brought Crisp home to score. Fuld moved up to second on the casual response by the left fielder Corey Hart. Josh Donaldson was safe at first on an error committed by Robinson Cano. Adam Dunn then slapped a single into left field that allowed Fuld to score giving the A’s a 4-0 lead.

The A’s pitching and defense kept the Mariners off-balance during the entire game. Seattle went 0-13 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base. A number of Mariners will have a sleepless night thinking about what could have been with one or two well-timed hits.

Dan Otero entered the game for Oakland in the seventh inning. He gave up two hits but managed to get out of a bases loaded situation to keep the Mariners scoreless.

Luke Gregerson worked the eighth inning giving up one hit while striking out three batters. Sean Doolittle pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation in order to get some live game work in after his recent return from the Disabled List.

The A’s are now 1.5 games in front of the second place Wild Card team the Kansas City Royals. The Mariners are now one game behind Kansas City in the Wild Card standings.

The Athletics will have their final day off of the regular season on Monday before beginning a three game series with the Texas Rangers in Oakland on Tuesday.