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OAKLAND — It’s hard to sweep a baseball team, especially one in direct competition with you for a playoff spot. The A’s almost did it, but the Mariners ultimately showed they’re still game.
In a game filled with unexpected developments, it was Dee Gordon, holder of a grand total of one home run entering the day, who delivered the critical blow in the form of a two-run shot off Yusmeiro Petit in the 12th inning of Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to the Mariners in 12 in front of 17,078 fans at the Coliseum.
It’s not a sweep, but a series victory the A’s will gladly take as they still come away with a 2 1/2 game lead over the Mariners (70-52) for the second American League wild card and 1 1/2 games back of the Houston Astros, who visit the Coliseum for a three-game series starting Friday.
“We’ve just been so hot that we expect to win every game,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We had a chance to win today’s game, but you’re looking at the two teams that play one-run games the best in the league. Even though today was tough, we have to look at it as a positive that we took the series.”
Matt Olson nearly ended it two innings before Gordon’s home run. His drive off Zach Duke in the 12th with one out and the game scoreless had everyone in the stadium, Olson included, thinking the A’s (72-49) would walk off with another victory. Olson had even started his home run trot, but turned on the jets when he saw the ball bounce off the high wall in right-center field, ending up with a double and eventually stranded at second.
A few more inches, and Olson ends up with a pie to the face along with a Gatorade bath.
“When it’s scoreless like that and you go to extra innings, it’s always one potential swing away,” Melvin said. “If Olson’s ball goes out, it’s a whole different ball game. They got the big hit and we didn’t.”
The other unexpected event was Brett Anderson, who had the most impressive outing of the series of A’s starters in a loss.
Anderson, who was thought to be on the chopping block as a potential DFA candidate following the A’s acquisition of Mike Fiers, is going through an impressive stretch over the past few weeks. The left-hander held the Mariners scoreless over 7 2/3 innings, allowing just five hits with two strikeouts before departing with just 83 pitches.
Even Melvin had to join in on the ovation as he clapped his hands on the way to the mound before removing Anderson with one out in the eighth following a single by Guillermo Heredia.
“That’s as good as he’s pitched. You saw a lot of balls on the ground, a lot of contact, I think only two hard-hit balls,” Melvin said. “To expect him to get us that deep in the game was probably a stretch, but he just kept performing well to the point where he deserved to go back out.”
Anderson has now turned in scoreless outing with at least seven innings of work in two of his past three starts, lowering his ERA to 3.90.
Fully healthy from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for a month, Anderson has bounced back from a poor start to his second stint with the A’s now showing better spin on his off speed pitches, which has allowed him to find weak contact and keep his pitch count low.
“It’s more sink. His changeup has been a big pitch for him,” Melvin said. “He’s not trying to get strikeouts as much, it’s more good sinker, good changeup, and using his breaking ball when he has to. It’s the weak contact. He’s not gonna be a strikeout guy anymore, he’s gonna have to get weak contact. That’s what he was getting today.”
Though Anderson was outstanding, he was matched by Mike Leake, who turned in eight scoreless inning himself.
The two traded quick innings back and forth in a game that only took two hours to complete nine innings. Anderson’s strong start continued what has been a great past month for the A’s starting rotation, which has posted a 3.32 ERA over that time and 1.84 over the past 14 games.
“You see what the other guy is doing on the other side and you go out there and try to put up a zero to match him,” Anderson said. “Just trying to fall in line with the other starters and give us a chance to win. We’ve all been kind of feeding off each other lately and you don’t want to be the weak link.”
The A’s offense was kept quiet as it collected six hits and was shut out for the first time since June 9. Their best shot came in the fourth when Nick Martini led off with a triple, but remained put for the rest of the inning. Still, these hitters are a confident group that expects to get going against the reigning world champions over the weekend.
“We can only control what we can control, we won a series against a good team and just didn’t get it today. Missed a couple of opportunities. Now we just come back Friday against the Astros and get ready to roll.”
