TJ Cotterill
The News Tribune
James Paxton was back on the mound, Dee Gordon both drew a walk and hit a two-run home run, Robinson Cano homered and Mike Zunino pushed his season batting average over .200 for the first time in over a month.
Yes, the Oakland Athletics already had the celebratory bottles of bubbly champagne on ready in the visiting clubhouse of Safeco Field, learning one out into the game that they had secured their place in the postseason with Tampa Bay losing to New York.
Yes, the same A’s team that was under .500 and trailing the Mariners by 11 1/2 games in late June.
The same A’s team that doesn’t have a starting pitcher on their current rotation that began the year in the rotation.
This same A’s team that began the season with the lowest payroll in baseball and is now the first team in MLB history on record (since 1988) to clinch a postseason berth with the lowest budget.
What a surge for them — one that just never ended. They’re now 95-62 following a 7-3 victory over the Mariners on Monday in Seattle.
“It hurts,” Paxton said. “Especially because we were looking so good and then they surged and we stumbled. It’s a heartbreaking way to go for us. None of us are happy about those guys celebrating on our field right now. Hopefully we can get some payback next year.”
Maybe this game is a snapshot of the second half for both teams.
Oakland entered Monday with the fourth-most runs scored in baseball since July 1, just behind the Cardinals, Yankees and Red Sox.
The Mariners (85-70) entered Monday with the third-fewest runs scored in baseball since July 1, just ahead of Giants and Marlins.
“Certainly they’ve had a number of different players step up,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “That third baseman (Matt Chapman) is a heck of a player. I’ve known him and seen him for a long time. He’s really come into his own. Their bullpen, I can speak volumes about the stuff they have down there.
Paxton was bed-ridden with pneumonia and he hadn’t pitched since Sept. 7 recovering from pneumonia and influenza.
And that was after stints on the disabled list with a sore back (he only missed one start with that) and then a bruised throwing arm when he took a comebacker off it. It hasn’t been the injury-free season he was looking for, but still a career-high 27 starts and 154 1/3 innings pitched.
Paxton sat the first eight batters he faced in his return until he left a curveball down the pipe to Jonathan Lucroy for a home run.
Then he tossed a 93-mph fastball to Jed Lowrie three batters later who obliged with another home run. He exited after 71 pitches, something Servais said he’d likely keep him at, and four innings pitched, allowing three this and two runs with five strikeouts — pushing his season total to 199 Ks.
“I’m still not 100 percent, but I tried to take my time between pitches and catch my breath,” Paxton said. “I thought it went pretty well. I threw some good pitches, but I also made a few mistakes on the solo home runs.”
And the A’s kept hitting home runs. Khris Davis hit his major-league-leading 47th homer off of Chasen Bradford in the sixth and Shawn Armstrong allowed his first runs in 12 innings pitched since he was selected from Triple-A Tacoma when he threw a cutter that didn’t cut and Matt Chapman crushed a two-run homer over the wall in center.
That gave Oakland 5-3 lead.
“I wouldn’t say I knew as soon as I threw it, but I knew as soon as he hit it,” Armstrong said. “Good hitters are going to hit that pitch out of the park. You got to tip your cap.”
Robinson Cano hit a home run in the first inning for the Mariners. That was their lone hit until the sixth inning, when Dee Gordon followed Mike Zunino’s double with a two-run homer (yes, a second Gordon home run in three games).
Let’s get to it, some takeaways:
AL West surge
On June 15, Oakland was 34-36. They had come off of three consecutive seasons in the AL West cellar. They trailed the Mariners by 11 games, and Seattle was a half-game behind Houston at 45-25.
Now the A’s are 95-62 and 9.5 games ahead of the Mariners (85-71) with six games to play. They’re 4.5 games back of the Astros (99-57).
“The American League West is a tough division, there’s no question about it,” Servais said. “You never know how it’s going to line up at this time of the year, when you start in March and April. Very competitive division and we knew it was going to be like that when the season started.”
Paxton’s back
The Mariners weren’t going to extend James Paxton’s outing too long, not in his first game back from battling pneumonia and influenza which kept him out for the entirety of the Mariners’ most recent road trip.
But they also want him to find some positive notes to end the season on what has been somewhat of an injury-plagued and more trying second half for the left-hander than his glowing first half.
Paxton was confident he’ll get another start.
“I would like to get to 160 innings,” Paxton said. “It would be great to get six more innings and it would hopefully set me up to get closer to 200 innings next year. Even if I don’t get all the way to 160, I’ll be in a good place to get there next year. So that’s the focus, get innings and give our team the best chance to win.”
Paxton retired the first eight batters he faced until he left a curveball down the middle of the plate for Jonathan Lucroy, who hit his fourth home run of the season. Jed Lowrie hit a go-ahead solo home run on a 93-mph Paxton fastball three batters later to lead off the fourth inning.
Paxton finished after 71 pitches. He went four innings, allowed three hits, the two homers with no walks and he struck out five.
He’s at 199 strikeouts for the season, one away from his first 200-strikeout season. He’d be the sixth pitcher in Mariners history with 200 strikeouts in a season if he can get one more start, though Servais hasn’t committed to that yet.
Randy Johnson (seven times), Felix Hernandez (six), Mark Langston (four), Floyd Bannister (one) and Erik Hanson (one) are the lone pitchers in club history with 200 Ks in a season.
“He did not feel physically 100 percent. He still had the raspy voice and the cough,” Servais said. “But I give him a ton of credit. I thought his stuff was moving pretty well. He made a couple mistakes, but for not having been out there in quite some time I thought he competed well.”
Rare Gordon
Dee Gordon drew a walk in the bottom of the third inning — the ninth time he’s walked this season.
Then he added a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth — bouncing off the top of the padded wall and over the fence in right field.
Yes, Gordon walked and homered in the same game.
That’s the third time in Gordon’s career he’s had a walk and a home run in the same game. He hit one home run in 2013, and that was the most recent time he had a game like this. He also walked and homered in a 2012 game for the Dodgers against the Marlins.
This is the fewest walks he’s had in a season since his first season in the big leagues in 2011 (seven walks in 56 games). Although, this is tied with his 2015 All-Star season with the Marlins for the most home runs he’s hit (four). And this was his second homer in the past three games.
Gordon also grounded into a double play and was caught stealing … who is this guy?
Quotable
The worst of that illness bout for James Paxton that left him noticeably skinnier and kept him out for the duration of the Mariners’ 10-game road trip?
“I had a fever for about three days straight and it really beat me up,” Paxton said. “Just soreness and everything. I just couldn’t get off the couch. That wasn’t fun. Glad I’m passed that.”
