Youngsters end M’s hopes

SEATTLE — With Safeco Field packed, and loud, and the Mariners’ season on the line, some of the youngest and newest A’s players decided a haywire game and killed Seattle’s wild-card hopes.

After numerous rallies and ties, rookie Bruce Maxwell led off the 10th with a double, and Joey Wendle, called up Aug. 31, sent him in with a two-out double off Mariners closer Edwin Diaz to give Oakland a 9-8 victory. Seattle got the potential tying run to third in the bottom of the 10th, but Ryan Madson got Kyle Seager to fly out to end it.

“Wild, wild game,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We talked before the series that this was kind of our playoffs and the atmosphere would be different for the younger guys than anything they’ve experienced before, and to get as many contributions from so many of the younger guys ... this is really going to serve

them well in the future.”

It was Oakland’s first win in six games. Khris Davis knocked his 42nd homer, tying him with Mark McGwire (1992) and Jose Canseco (1988) for the sixth-best total in Oakland history, and Marcus Semien had four hits, two of them doubles, including a go-ahead double in the eighth.

“This was a playoff atmosphere and that’s what we want to get to one day,” Semien said. “We have a lot of work to get to that point, but the way we played tonight, with that crowd — that could be the future for us.”

Seattle tied it in the eighth when pinch-hitter Mike Freeman doubled off Ryan Dull with two outs, and after Nori Aoki walked, Ben Gamel came up with an RBI single. Dull walked Robinson Cano to load the bases, bringing up Nelson Cruz, who’d bashed his 43rd homer to tie the game in the seventh. Dull got Cruz swinging to end the inning.

One of the A’s most prized rookies, Jharel Cotton, threw 65 pitches through the first three innings, with the second inning a real quagmire. He did well to limit the damage, looking far more experienced than most September call-ups might in a similar situation.

“I’m going to have games like these, so to stay composed, get out of the situation is pretty good for me,” said Cotton, who gave up more than one earned run for the first time in five big-league starts.

The A’s had wanted to reduce the pitch totals for several young starters, and Cotton had thrown 70 in his previous start, 75 before that. Melvin sent Cotton out for the fifth at 84 pitches, Aoki singled, and with one out, Cano belted his 39th homer.