By Morris Phillips

Call it Independence Day for more than reason: ownership of the Oakland A’s is no longer held by King Felix Hernandez.

The Mariners’ ace hadn’t lost a start at the O.co Coliseum in seven seasons until the A’s stood up to Hernandez and the Mariners on Saturday in an impressive 2-0 win.  Hernandez had gone 13 starts without a loss dating back to 2008, and thanks to a big effort from Kendall Graveman, fell at the Coliseum for only the third time in 21 career starts at 66^th and Hegenberger.

“He’s just handed it to us here at home,” manager Bob Melvin said.  “It’s not like he pitched poorly today.  He didn’t have his best stuff and he wiggled out of a bunch of jams.”

“Today they found the holes,” Hernandez admitted.  “That’s the way it goes.”

The A’s have lost a bunch of close games thus far in 2015, not to mention their struggles in day games, which didn’t make it likely that they could get Hernandez off their collective backs.  But since a disastrous start, the A’s have made steady, subtle improvement—winning 24 of 40—and it continued Saturday thanks to Graveman.

The A’s starter—now sporting a 1.78 ERA in nine starts since an early season demotion to the minors—was fantastic, pitching seven innings allowing five hits.  Graveman has made himself into a Rookie of the Year candidate, winning for the sixth time, and forging a 16-inning scoreless streak in the process.

But given the A’s painful rebuild after holding the majors’ best record after 100 games last season, just one ROY candidate might not be enough.  That’s where Billy Burns comes in, and he found his way around the bases against Hernandez in just the first seven pitches of the ballgame.

The speedy Burns singled on the game’s first pitch, then three pitches later, stole second.  Stephen Vogt walked on the next pitch, and Ben Zobrist singled in Burns on pitch number seven.

Hernandez would work out of the quickly-created jam, and then again in the second inning.  From Melvin’s standpoint, it appeared the A’s had squandered a pair of critical opportunities.  Despite registering 10 hits, the A’s would score only one more run—in the seventh—off Hernandez.