By Morris Phillips

Things haven’t been pretty around the O.co Coliseum lately, but that hasn’t affected Josh Donaldson’s picture perfect swing.

Donaldson’s two-run homer decided a tense, close ballgame for the A’s on Sunday, 8-6 in 10 innings. The A’s All-Star third baseman homered to win a game for the third time this season off reliever Miguel Gonzalez. No surprise that Donaldson’s shot landed beyond the centerfield wall as his ability to square up mistake pitches has carried the A’s all season.

“He’s a tough customer in big at-bats,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He embraces it.”

“Ever since I was a kid, that’s just the moment I’ve always wanted to be in,” Donaldson said.

The near four-hour affair saw Oakland take three leads only to have the Phillies respond with game-tying rallies. Both starting pitchers—Philadelphia’s A.J. Burnett and Oakland’s Scott Kazmir—have had better days and left fortunate to not be saddled with a loss.

Burnett allowed the A’s the early jump allowing a pair of hits and supplementing it with a walk and a hit batter in a three-run first inning that ended a string of 15 innings without a run scored. Burnett was still pitching and generous when the A’s broke a 3-3 tie in the third and rallied again in the fifth. In all, Burnett allowed six walks and three hits which translated into a 6-4 A’s lead after five innings.

Kazmir wasn’t much better with the exception of allowing free passes. The lefty blew all three leads gifted him by allowing 11 hits in five plus innings of work.   After an All-Star start to his first season in Oakland, Kazmir has mirrored the A’s slide by going 1-5 in his last eight starts.

Kazmir gave a pair of RBI doubles to Marlon Byrd to account for the Phillies’ first three runs and another RBI double to Carlos Ruiz that got Philadelphia even in the fourth. While Kazmir had his strike out pitch working, he couldn’t finish innings, allowing a pair of damaging, two-out rallies.

The A’s bullpen fared much better following Kazmir’s departure as four relievers gave up just two hits and no runs. Sean Doolittle stood out by throwing the final two innings and striking out four in the process.

While the A’s were winning, the Mariners suffered a critical loss at Houston to fall two games behind Oakland. In between the two AL West rivals, the Royals avoided a sweep by the Tigers, winning 5-2 at home to remain a half-game off Oakland’s pace.

With a week remaining in the season, the A’s clearly have the easier path to hosting a one-game playoff game for the right to qualify for the AL Division Series with the Angels being the most likely opponent at that stage. The Royals finish the season by playing on each of the final 10 days with the seven remaining all on the road, three in Cleveland then four in Chicago against the White Sox. The Royals also must complete a game against the Indians that was suspended by rain on August 31. Kansas City trails 4-2 in that game with their at-bat in the bottom of the tenth inning left to play.

The Mariners must travel to Toronto for four games before returning home for a three-game series against the Angels.

The A’s finish with three games at home against the Angels, followed by a trip to Texas for the final four games.

On Monday, Jeff Samardzija faces C.J. Wilson in a 7:05pm start at the Coliseum.