OAKLAND, Calif. _ Edwin Jackson smacked his glove three times after his strike out of Denard Span and slowly walked off the mound with that humble swagger of his to a nice ovation from the crowd at the Coliseum. Jackson has become a fan favorite in his short time with Oakland, but his biggest fan on this day was Bob Melvin, who was the first to welcome Jackson back to the dugout with a huge pat on the back.
It was a sigh of relief for the A's manager, who has had to play mad scientist with his bullpen in order to compensate for mediocre outings from the A's rotation over the past two weeks. With his strikeout of Span to end the sixth, Jackson became first A's pitcher to turn in a quality start since Brett Anderson on Aug. 21 against the Texas Rangers.
The A's offense broke through late for a 8-2 victory over the Mariners to push their lead over Seattle for the second wild card to 5 { games with 24 to go, but it began with Jackson's six innings of one-run ball.
A's starting pitchers were 2-5 with a 6.17 ERA over the past 11 games entering the day. Things got so bad, the A's decided to test out the "bullpenning" strategy by starting Liam Hendriks on Saturday. That failed as the A's lost and set an Oakland record for most pitchers used in a nine-inning game with nine.
Even with the roster expanded to 14 relievers, Melvin needed a deep outing. Jackson delivered.
At just 77 pitches, Jackson could have probably gone another inning. But Melvin decided to turn to his dominant bullpen with a fully rested trio of Lou Trivino, Fernando Rodney and Blake Treinen at his disposal.
With Sean Manaea likely done for the season, the A's need somebody to be the de facto "No. 1" starter. It's a mystery who would start for the A's in the event of a wild-card game, but Jackson is making a case. He's now 5-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 13 starts.
Seattle starter Felix Hernandez entered the day 26-12 with a 2.71 ERA in 50 career starts against Oakland, but at 32 he is a shell of his Cy Young. For five innings, though, all he'd allowed was Stephen Piscotty's 20th home run of the season.
The A's offense got to him in the sixth, though.
After the first two batters reached base against Hernandez, Marcus Semien broke a 1-1 tie with a single that bounced off Kyle Seager's glove and into left field to score two runs. That knocked Hernandez out of the game and, when Matt Chapman and Jed Lowrie followed with back-to-back singles, it was 4-1. It ended up being a four-run inning for the A's to put Jackson in line for the victory.
Piscotty homered again in the eighth, this time a three-run shot off Justin Grimm as he finished the day 2 for 3 and tied his career-high with five RBIs. Acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals in an offseason deal made in part to bring the Pleasanton native home for his ailing mother, Piscotty is proving to be a steal. For Yairo Munoz and Max Schrock, the A's have received a career-high 36 doubles from Piscotty. His 21 home runs are one short of his career high.
