OAKLAND -- Bryan Woo's maturation on the mound the past two months has been rooted in his blossoming ability to find a new gear late, pitch into the seventh inning and empty the tank at the finish line.

On Thursday afternoon, though, he showed that he can still remain effective without his best stuff, perhaps a byproduct of his recent learnings of the grind to being a Major League starter.

Woo needed 88 pitches to clear five innings, falling into deep counts and working around consistent traffic. Yet, he limited damage, left with a lead -- and thanks to early run support -- helped position the Mariners for a 6-4 win over the A¡¯s at the Coliseum, just two BART train stops away from where he grew up.

¡°I've come to more games here than anywhere else in the world, anywhere else in my life,¡± Woo said. ¡° So I can't wrap my mind around that right now. But it¡¯s sad. It¡¯s crazy. It's a lot of emotions.¡±

And thanks to help from old friend Ty France, who crushed a game-winning homer for the Reds against the Astros, the Mariners trimmed their deficit in the American League West standings to 4 1/2 games, marking the second day in a row and just the seventh time in 17 tries since the All-Star break that they were able to do so.

Seattle also pulled to within five games of the final AL Wild Card spot, as the first team on the outside looking in, with 21 to play.

¡°I feel everybody has a situation in the game, like a situation overall, that I feel like we are approaching with calmness,¡± Julio Rodr¨ªguez said, ¡°and just kind of ready to do what we need to do in that moment, and staying within ourselves. And it doesn't matter what's been happening.¡±

Woo found himself in four three-ball counts, but finished with zero walks, and among the eight hits he surrendered, seven were singles -- the only blemish being a solo homer in the fifth from Brent Rooker, who also crushed a two-run blast off Andr¨¦s Mu?oz in the ninth.

But by that point, the Mariners had built enough cushion, thanks to a two-run insurance homer from Luke Raley in the ninth that proved decisive. Raley¡¯s big blast was an encapsulation for Seattle¡¯s recent turnaround -- a marginal one, given that it¡¯s only been two days -- but in the right direction nonetheless.

Maybe it¡¯s a more disciplined approach, after Cal Raleigh alluded after the Mariners¡¯ second straight walk-off on Tuesday that ¡°we're not playing the full nine.¡± Maybe it¡¯s that they¡¯re seeing more results from 46 hard-hit balls (anything 95 mph or higher) throughout the series. Maybe it¡¯s also that they cut their K¡¯s down, with a 21.8% strikeout rate this week in Oakland, notably down from their MLB-worst 27.3% for the season.

In the words of Rodr¨ªguez -- who demolished a 448-foot, 111.1 mph homer in the third -- the Mariners are ¡°letting things come to us.¡±

Even in the brutal defeats on this 3-4 road trip, Rodr¨ªguez has been a bright spot, now 9-for-27 with a 1.034 OPS in this stretch. He¡¯s on time on everything -- and not missing his pitch, no spot being more evident than when he sat all over the hanging slider from Joey Estes that he sent into the second deck.

¡°I just feel like I'm doing the right things,¡± Rodr¨ªguez said. ¡°I feel like I'm getting on time early, looking in the zone, and just kind of staying there. I feel like that's something that's been really helping me out -- to continue to drive the ball and take the bad pitches. And I feel like that's something that I will continue to work on.¡±

Rodr¨ªguez¡¯s blast was the day¡¯s gem -- the third-longest of his career and Seattle¡¯s second-longest this season -- but not by much, as Raleigh also crushed a second-decker in the first inning, this one a 399-foot, two-run moonshot for his 29th of the season.

Raleigh also tied his mentor and Mariners manager Dan Wilson for second on the franchise¡¯s all-time leaderboard among catchers with his career 88th. Mike Zunino¡¯s 95 are the most. For good measure, Raleigh stole his sixth base in the seventh, putting him one away from Wilson¡¯s single-season franchise record for the most among catchers.

¡°He's become a frontline guy,¡± Wilson said.

The Mariners (71-70) still have a long shot of reaching the postseason, but for two days at least -- and in a goodbye to a 58-year venue that they know well -- they took steps in the right direction.