WEST SACRAMENTO -- One of the duties that entails the role of an ace is being the stopper when a team is on a losing skid.
Gage Jump may not hold that ace title just yet for the Athletics, but he sure looked the part when they needed a pick-me-up in the aftermath of back-to-back losses. Opening up a four-game series against the Angels at Sutter Health Park Thursday night, the 23-year-old rookie set the right tone in a 5-0 victory by shutting down the Halos across seven innings.
A five-run first inning by the A’s offense on the strength of back-to-back homers by Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom allowed Jump to settle in and attack all night. The left-hander retired 11 of his first 13 batters faced and did not allow his first -- and only -- hit of the night until Oswald Peraza’s two-out double in the fourth, which was quickly mitigated one batter later with a strikeout of Christian Moore on a 97.3 mph fastball.
Jump finished his night with 107 pitches, the highest total by any A’s starter so far this season, and seemingly got stronger as the outing went on.
With his pitch count approaching triple digits entering the seventh, Jump was visibly frustrated after issuing a leadoff walk to Vaugh Grissom, which prompted reliever Mason Barnett to start getting loose in the A’s bullpen. Jump’s response: consecutive swinging strikeouts of Peraza and Moore on a pair of nasty curveballs, with the final out coming as a result of Grissom getting picked off by Langeliers at first base.