Piscotty, Jackson help A’s get series split
The A’s have not lost back-toback series since May 7-13, and they’ve dropped just two of their past 22 series. Their 48-20 record since June 16 is the best in the majors.
“It’s not coming as easy for us right now as it was during that stretch,” said manager Bob Melvin, whose team is 3-4 in the past week. “But it’s not going to be all year long. Today was a bit of a test. We have to go out there and do the best we can to win this game to create a little more distance.
“There are certain times a split feels better than others — this is one of them.”
Edwin Jackson turned in one of the A’s better recent starts, working six innings and allowing just one run while lowering his ERA to 2.91. He didn’t give up a hit after the first, and Oakland is now 10-3 in his starts. The team’s starters were 2-5 with a 6.17 ERA over the previous 11 games.
Piscotty’s first homer came with two outs in the fifth against one of the A’s toughest antagonists, Felix Hernandez, and the A’s right fielder added a sacrifice fly in the sixth and a three-run blast off Justin Grimm in the eighth. Piscotty is batting .351 with six homers and 15 RBIs over the past 14 games, and his 21 homers are one shy of his career high set in 2016.
“Really, since the first month and a half of the season, he’s just been a beast in the middle of the order,” Melvin said.
Piscotty also made a nice sliding catch in the third on a sinking liner by Robinson Cano. “He’s the hero for the day,” Jackson said.
Marcus Semien is one of the few Oakland players over the years to give Hernandez trouble, and he did so again Sunday. After Chad Pinder singled and pinch-hitter Matt Joyce drew a walk in the sixth, Semien showed bunt twice against Hernandez, but, following a wild pitch that moved up the runners, he slapped a single off Kyle Seager’s glove at third. Pinder scored easily, and Joyce, just off the disabled list after missing most of the season with a back injury, charged in, too, getting his hand on the plate with a head-first slide just ahead of the tag. The only problem: He ran through a stop sign.
“Don’t take baserunning tips from me,” said Joyce, who saw third-base coach Matt Williams start to wave him in but missed the switch to hold up. “Obviously I wouldn’t run through a stop sign if I saw it ... especially from him. I apologized afterwards because he was pretty angry about it; nobody out, that’s not a chance you want to take. But, hey, I’m glad it worked out — I got pretty excited to score and feel like I had some sort of impact on the game.”
“He knows he needs to run with his head up — Matt Williams is not a guy you want to tangle with when he’s upset,” Melvin said with a smile. “But it’s a results-based industry, so it’s OK if you’re safe; if you’re out, it’s not.”
That was it for Hernandez, who is having such a down season (8-13, 5.55 ERA) that he was briefly in the bullpen. Over the course of his career, he’s 26-13 against Oakland — the wins are the most in the majors versus the A’s during that stretch — and his ERA is 2.77.
Matt Chapman followed Semien’s single with a single off reliever Nick Vincent, and so did Jed Lowrie, who sent Semien in.
The Mariners got one back in the eighth off former Seattle closer Fernando Rodney, with a two-out single by ex-A’s first baseman Ryon Healy, sending in Jean Segura. Blake Treinen took over with two on and two outs and got Seager to fly out.
The A’s improved their record when leading after seven innings to 58-0, and they have a 73-game winning streak in such situations dating to Sept. 2, 2017.
“This was a good win for us,” Jackson said, noting the many contributions the team got. “Definitely a must-win game.”