Boston Red Sox at Athletics

Gage Jump’s arrival came with such high expectations as one of the more hyped prospects to make his way through the Athletics’ system in quite some time that you almost forget he was only making his 12th Major League start on Tuesday. For almost any young pitcher, there will be highs and lows as they establish themselves at this level. Jump’s career started off with a bang as he posted a 2.04 ERA through his first six starts. Then, he seemingly hit a wall, going 0-5 with an 8.31 ERA in the next five starts, coming away frustrated from an outing he described as “pretty embarrassing” last week in Arizona. On Tuesday night, Jump was back to looking like that electric rookie who burst onto the scene earlier this season, firing six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts to set the tone for the A’s in a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox at Sutter Health Park. “Gage was great tonight,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Being able to make pitches when he had to is part of what we were looking for. We’re looking for consistency and being able to manage innings.” Since his first call to the Majors on May 26, Jump’s stuff has never been a question. At times, however, he’s had problems putting hitters away, with foul balls leading to lengthy at-bats and high pitch counts. Entering Tuesday, his 215 pitches fouled off by opposing hitters were 12th most among all Major League pitchers since his debut. That list is headlined by some of the game’s top strikeout artists, such as Paul Skenes, Sandy Alcantara and Cam Schlittler. Jump fancies himself a strikeout pitcher in his own right. Against Boston, he looked the part by missing more bats than ever before with the A’s. The 23-year-old left-hander recorded a career-high 19 whiffs, nine coming on his fastball, which maxed out at 97.8 mph, and six on his wipeout slider. “\[The Red Sox\