A’s gain ground on Astros with 7-5 win over Mariners
OAKLAND, Calif. (TNS) – Several Oakland A’s players right now are experiencing for the first time as big leaguers the pressure and excitement that comes with being in a pennant race.
So far, there’s been no indication that the stage is too big or the lights too bright for rookie Ramon Laureano.
Laureano singled and scored in the first inning Friday against the Seattle Mariners and added a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth as the A’s earned a 7-5 win before an announced crowd of 17,942 at the Coliseum.
Khris Davis added an RBI single for an insurance run in the sixth, as the A’s moved to within 11/2 games of Houston for first place in the American League West, and 51/2 games up on the Mariners for the second AL Wild Card spot. The A’s bullpen threw five shutout innings, with Yusmeiro Petit (6-3) getting the win.
Laureano scored from first base on a Marcus Semien double in the first inning, then in the fifth, lined out to right field to bring in Matt Olson from third for a 6-5 A’s lead. Olson finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored.
Laureano, recalled Aug. 3, was starting his 18th game for the A’s in center field Friday. Besides being a defensive whiz, he was 12-for-33 at the plate with three home runs and seven RBI in his last 11 games before Friday.
Laureano’s run was one of five the A’s scored in the first off Mariners starter Mike Leake, as Matt Chapman hit a solo home run and Stephen Piscotty hit a two-run shot.
It was the first time Oakland has at least tasted some success against Leake. Before Friday, Leake, in four games against the A’s since his Mariners debut in Sept. 2017, had gone 1-0 with a 1.95 ERA with 20 strikeouts.
A’s starter Mike Fiers, though, couldn’t hold the lead and had his shortest outing of the season.
In the fourth inning, with the A’s leading 5-1, Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Ryon Healy all took Fiers deep, with Healy’s two-run homer tying the game Oakland Athletics pitcher Mike Fiers watches a delivery to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of a baseball game Friday in Oakland, .
5-5.
Following the shoulder injury to Sean Manaea, Fiers could have probably been considered the closest thing the A’s had to a staff ace.
In each of four previous starts for Oakland, Fiers had gone at least 5 1/3 innings, and never allowed more than two earned runs. He had won three straight starts, lowering his season ERA to 3.15 in the process.
“We don’t need to put that kind of pressure on him, but he’s pitched really well for us,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said about potentially labeling Fiers the ace. “Sometimes it’s difficult to come into a new team, in the situation that we’re in and be that comfortable right away and pitch that well.
“I think he’s kind of inspired by the situation that we’re in, he’s fit in well … At this point, I don’t think we could have asked for more than we’ve gotten from him.”
– Outfielder Dustin Fowler led off and played left field on Friday and will be the A’s left-handed leadoff hitter for the next few days, Melvin said. To make room for Fowler, pitcher Frankie Montas was optioned back to Triplea.
Left fielder Nick Martini will be returning to Oakland after Sept. 3 when Nashville’s season comes to an end. But for now, Fowler, typically in center, has the job. He was 0-for-5 Friday.