Doug Fister will never be confused with Brandon Morrow in terms of velocity. At 6-foot-6, Fister might be expected to have a 98 mph fastball in his arsenal. Instead, it’s often 88 mph. He can hit 91 or 92 on occasion.

But it doesn’t mean that Fister can’t be effective.

A night after Morrow overpowered and overwhelmed the Oakland A’s with a hard, moving fastball and explosive breaking stuff, Fister was almost equally as successful using location, command and offspeed pitches in the Mariners’ 4-2 win over the A’s at Safeco Field.

Fister threw seven innings, allowed just one run on five hits, while striking out four and walking just one as the Mariners closed out the season series with Oakland with a three-game sweep. Seattle won 14 of 19 games this season against its division rival.

Oakland had scored 32 runs in four games against the Rangers and 22 in three against the Angels, but the Rangers left Seattle having scored just six in three games.

“This Oakland team came in swinging it awfully effectively,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. “They had some great games against both Anaheim and Texas before this series started. So I’m awfully proud of the pitching performances to negate that – Morrow yesterday (Wednesday), Felix (Hernandez) the day before that and, obviously, Fister tonight.”

Fister improved to 3-4 on the season, and quietly made himself an outside candidate for cracking the Mariners’ starting rotation in 2010.

“He’s pitched some great games for his first year,” Wakamatsu said. “It’s an awfully good feeling. And we’ll take that into this winter.”

Not bad for a pitcher who started the season in Double-A and wasn’t even on the radar as a possible contributor this season. Part of the reason for that is Fister’s lack of overpowering stuff. He’s a control pitcher, who will give up hits and rely on his defense to help him out. Nothing about him is eye-catching.

Fister isn’t afraid to admit as much.

“It’s just the way it is for me,” Fister said. “Every day I have to go out there and focus on location and not worry about what the radar gun says.”

It’s what earned him the promotion to Triple-A Tacoma early in the season and the promotion to the big leagues on Aug. 7. And it will be what keeps him in the big leagues.

“The reports coming in were always about the command,” Wakamatsu said. “It applies even more so up here. When the command is there, he has plenty of stuff to get good offenses out. He has the ability to change speeds, and with his height, he gets a good angle on his pitches. In his inconsistent starts, he was trying to do too much.”

Fister admits to doing so, particularly trying to find added velocity instead of relying on hitting his spots.

“I go back and look and I hurt myself by trying to throw hard,” he said. “Coming back and focusing on location is where I need to focus.”

Having Adam Moore, who caught Fister throughout their ascent through the minor leagues, behind the plate also served as a reminder for Fister and his keys to success.

“Having Adam back there was like the old days for me,” Fister said. “We mesh well together and we were on the same page.”

Fister didn’t have much trouble in the game. In the fourth inning, he gave up his lone run after Kurt Suzuki tripled to lead off the inning and later scored on Daric Barton’s double to right. But with Barton on second and one out, Fister got Mark Ellis to ground out and struck out Eric Patterson to end the inning.

Over the next three innings, he retired the next nine of the 10 hitters he faced, pitching with rhythm and pace.

“He was pretty efficient,” Wakamatsu said. “He finished out seven innings pretty strong.”

The Mariners cobbled together the requisite run support for Fister. They picked up a run in the second when Adrian Beltre jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from A’s starter Brett Anderson, crushing a solo homer to center that traveled more than 425 feet.

In the fifth inning, Seattle took advantage of two-out error by third baseman Adam Kennedy that loaded the bases for Mike Sweeney.

Sweeney delivered a soft single to right to score two runs, and Beltre followed with an RBI single. All three runs were unearned and the proved to the difference in the game.

“I’m thankful that hit helped us win the ball game,” Sweeney said. “It was definitely a team effort, but I’m thankful I was able to contribute.”

Mark Lowe pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and David Aardsma came in and allowed a solo homer to Jack Cust but then retired the next three to notch his 37th save.

“It was nice to get Lowe and Aardsma back in there,” Wakamatsu said. “We haven’t had an opportunity it seems like in a while to get those guys back-to-back to finish out a game. I can’t say enough about Aardsma, 37 saves, what he’s meant to this club and how far he’s come. It’s pretty spectacular.”

Ryan Divish: 253-597-8483

ryan.divish@thenewstribune.com