The Athletics managed to take the series finale and also the series against the Washington Nationals on Thursday morning, beating their NL East foes by a final of 6-0 to secure the squad’s 51st victory of the season.

On the mound for the A’s today was rookie lefty Jacob Lopez. Making his 14th start of the year for the A’s the 27-year-old continued his impressive run of recent success with perhaps his best outing yet. Following up two straight scoreless outings Lopez absolutely dominated the Washington lineup. Over seven and two thirds innings today, Lopez allowed just three base runners (two singles and a double), not issuing any free passes. Not only did he keep the Nationals mostly off the bases, but he also racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts. While he was in the middle of a shutout those punchouts probably didn’t help his pitch count and staying in the game longer but after 114 pitches it was time to pull the young left-hander.

The second piece in the Springs trade continues to impress more and more each time out. Today’s stellar outing dropped his season ERA to a quality 3.59 mark and the young left-hander seems to be hitting his stride. Maybe we should begin referring to that swap as the “Lopez trade” now.

Offense backs up their starter

Meanwhile the lineup behind Lopez was going up against Washington’s own lefty starter in Mitchell Parker. After a quiet first inning, the A’s jumped all over him in the second. First came a memorable moment as outfielder Colby Thomas connected for his first major league home run, a 2-run blast over the wall in left center field to give the A’s the early lead:

Get that man that ball! The A’s weren’t done there. Second baseman Luis Urias collected a single in his first at bat since returning from a brief hiatus and he would came around to score after Max Schuemann’s second double of the season and an RBI sac fly from lead off man Shea Langeliers. The A’s had a 3-0 lead, one they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the day.

The A’s added on a quick run in the fourth after Darell Hernaiz hit a leadoff triple and came in to score on a sac fly from Thomas:

And then another run in the eighth when Tyler Soderstrom hit his second home run in as many days:

They added on one final insurance run in the ninth off a Nick Kurtz force out, while right-hander Justin Sterner finished the game off on the pitching side, getting four outs without allowing a baserunner. Victory secured.

Another well-rounded game from the Green & Gold. The club escapes from D.C. with a series win and doesn’t have to travel far for their next series up in Baltimore. They can take the rest of the day off and reflect on that awesome team win. Jacob Lopez was out of his mind on the mound this morning, and the offense got a couple big hits to back him up. Manager Mark Kotsay spoke with reporters after the game about his team and pitcher:

The A’s will now travel the short drive up to Baltimore, continuing their East Coast road trip with three games against the Orioles. Both squads sit in last place in their respective divisions but there’s tons of young talent on both teams, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see these two in the postseason with their respective cores down the line. The A’s will start things off with rookie JT Ginn, who will be making his eighth start of the season. The right-hander has done an admirable job as the righty has posted a 4.28 ERA over his first seven starts entering tomorrow’s contest, though he got touched up a bit last time out. The Orioles will counter Ginn with staff leader Tomoyuki Sugano, who had a stellar start to his first season in Baltimore but has struggled hard over the past few months. The A’s saw him once earlier this year, collecting eight hits and three earns runs in just 4 1/3 innings against the veteran right-hander. The club would take more of the same tomorrow evening.