SEATTLE — Amazing what happens when a ball hits a bat.
It sure beats the alternative of swinging and missing.
For most of Wednesday evening, the A’s seemed destined to shatter their franchise record of 19 strikeouts — they K’d 16 times in seven innings — but then they started making contact off Seattle’s bullpen, and their world turned.
Jed Lowrie hit a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth, and Mark Canha’s solo homer in the ninth decided Oakland’s extraordinary 3-2 victory over the Mariners.
Evidently, the A’s chances vastly improved once Seattle lefty James Paxton exited after seven scoreless innings.