SEATTLE -- The pregame message that Athletics manager Mark Kotsay conveyed to his team inside the clubhouse Thursday afternoon was simple: 20 out of 22.
“That’s the amount of games we have left against playoff-contending teams,” Kotsay said. “There’s a lot to play for for us. For the experience, and to go out and try to wreck people’s season, really. We’ve got an opportunity here to do that for the next 20 out of 22.”
First up is this weekend’s four-game series with the division-rival Mariners, who entered Thursday’s series finale trailing in the American League West race by five games and desperate for wins.
“We should have some pride in that,” Kotsay said. “These teams are playing for their lives. … Any time a team is five [games] out in a division race, every out matters. That’s what we’re seeing with the way [the Mariners] just played in Boston and the way they’re going to come out and play this weekend.”
The A’s certainly made life difficult for their AL West foes, dropping Seattle further in the standings with a 7-4 victory at T-Mobile Park.
As for the pride, that was evident throughout this one based on the emotion exhibited on the field. Look no further than reliever Luis Medina, who after escaping a jam in the eighth inning with a strikeout of Cole Young to preserve a two-run lead let out a huge and audible roar before walking off the mound.
Medina was part of an A’s bullpen largely responsible for this win. After starter Jack Perkins was pulled following three innings due to a heavy workload of 86 pitches, the relief quartet of Scott Blewett, Chris Roycroft, Medina and Hogan Harris combined to shut the Mariners down across the game’s final six scoreless innings with a combined 11 strikeouts.