Jackson strong in 13th debut
DETROIT — Sure, Edwin Jackson tied a big-league record Monday by playing for his 13th different team.
The most impressive thing the right-handed starter did, though, was make big pitches when needed while making his first start since Sept. 28. Jackson allowed one run in six innings and Jed Lowrie gave the A’s a late comeback victory, homering in the ninth to put Oakland ahead 5-4. Blake Treinen nailed down the victory, earning his 18th save in 20 chances as the A’s won for the seventh time in nine games.
“It’s a lot of fun pitching in games like that, kind of the new guy and wanting to set a good first impression,” said Jackson, who has had plenty of experience doing that after matching Octavio Dotel’s record for teams played for.
“Just a fun fact,” Jackson said. “Scoreboard trivia.”
Dotel, a former A’s reliever, feels more strongly about the mark. Reached by phone in the Dominican Republic on Monday, Dotel said, “I want to be by myself in that department! I was happy I got that record. It always made me feel good.
“Now, Edwin Jackson will know what it’s like. And it looks like he’ll break it. I was 38 when I signed with Detroit. He’s got a lot of room to go ahead of me.”
Dotel was teammates with Jackson, 34, in St. Louis in 2011, and they’re friends, so that takes some sting out of sharing the record.
“Everyone loves Edwin,” Dotel said. “If he’s tied with me, I’m happy, because he deserves it. He’s earned it.”
Jackson, signed to a minorleague deal June 6 and called up Monday, allowed six hits, walked none and struck out
seven, and he worked out of trouble with apparent ease. Using a nasty slider, he got key strikeouts in the second, fourth and fifth innings with men on base, and, with two on and one out in the sixth, Jackson got a pop-up and a ground out. His fastball registered in the mid 90s a few times.
“I try to be young once a week,” Jackson joked.
“For a first look for us, boy, with what we’ve been going through, very welcome,” said manager Bob Melvin, whose team has five starters on the disabled list and might lose another, Daniel Mengden, to a foot injury this week.
Jackson, pitching on the eighth anniversary of his 2010 no-hitter with Arizona, left with the game tied because Stephen Piscotty homered leading off the seventh. Piscott is batting .391 during a six-game hitting streak.
The Tigers took the lead in the seventh on Nicholas Castellanos’ three-run homer off Lou Trivino, but the A’s responded with three of their own in the eighth, Franklin Barreto tying things up with an RBI double to deep left-center, and Trivino came back and retired all three batters in the bottom of the inning.
“For someone to hit a homer off Lou is a shock. The last thing you’d expect is an opposite-field home run,” Melvin said. “When you talk about a rookie, you look for what he’s made of when he has to go back out the next inning and hold ’em down, and he did it.”
Dustin Fowler and Piscotty turned in diving catches with men in scoring position Monday. Piscotty snared a sinking liner by Niko Goodrum to end the fifth, and Fowler ran into the gap in left and plunged for a drive by John Hicks to end the seventh.
The rest of that inning was not as pretty. Yusmeiro Petit took over for Jackson and gave up a single, and with one out lefty Ryan Buchter, in his first appearance since April, gave up a double by Leonys Martin. Trivino supplanted Buchter, and Goodrum’s bouncer to third erased Jose Iglesias at the plate, but Castellanos belted a homer the other way into the seats in right to give the Tigers a threerun lead.
Joe Jimenez hit Khris Davis to start the eighth, and with one out Piscotty doubled. Marcus Semien sent Davis in with a sacrifice fly, Jonathan Lucroy singled in Piscotty and Barreto’s double scored Lucroy.