By Matthew T.F. Harrington

The season is just about over for the Oakland Athletics with only one game remaining for the Green and Gold. That didn’t keep the A’s from milking every last moment of the 2015 season Saturday at Safeco Field where Oakland (68-93) topped the Seattle Mariners 7-5 in extra innings.

Marcus Semien launched a two-run shot in the top of the 13^th inning to give the A’s a two-run lead and lefty Felix Doubront notched his first save of the season. The A’s blew a 4-0 lead but received 7 innings of scoreless ball from the bullpen after Daniel Coulumbe blew the 4-run edge.

Midseason acquisition Danny Valencia continued to impress , launching his 18^th home run of the season off Roenis Elias in the top of the 1st inning. The homer also plated Brett Lawrie and Mark Canha for a 3-0 lead. The A’s added a run in the 3^rd inning on a fielder’s choice ground out by Stephen Vogt with the bases loaded.

The M’s (75-76) responded in the bottom half of the frame, touching A’s starter Sean Nolin up for a trio of runs on Robinson Cano’s 21^st homer of the season. The long ball came with a pair of runners on base and two outs in the inning.

The 6^th inning proved to be the fatal inning for the A’s, with reliever Coulombe looking to preserve the one-run lead. After Seattle loaded the bases, Coulombe managed to induce a double play off the bat of Jesus Sucre that scored one. Ketel Marte pick up the two-out base hit, plating Shawn O’Malley to give Seattle a 5-4 lead.

The Fernandos, Rodriguez and Abad respectively, pitched a perfect 7^th and 8^th inning to give the A’s a chance with the final three outs of the contest. Former Mariner close Tom Wilhemsen entered the game in dubious fashion, walking Billy Burns then plunking Mark Canha to put the tying run in scoring position with no outs. A wild pitch moved the tying run within 90 feet, with Brett Lawrie cashing it in on a sacrifice fly to left field to knot the score at 5-5. Edward Mujica pitched a perfect ninth to force extra innings.

Switch pitcher Pat Venditte (2-2, 4.40 ERA) performed brilliantly in his relief stint. The ambidextrous reliever pitched three innings without surrendering a hit, punching out three Mariners. His outing earned him the win, setting Semien up for the clutch homer.

Stephen Vogt opened the 13^th inning with a single to right off reliever JC Ramirez. Semien then came up to the plate, working a 3-1 count before tagging Ramirez (1-2, 5.32) for the homer and the loss. Doubront pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning for his first save since 2011 and 4^th of his career.

Oakland and Seattle wrap up the regular season with a Sunday matinee, pitting the A’s Chris Bassit against Seattle’s Vidal Nuno.