Oakland Athletics vs Seattle Mariners Box Score on May 17, 2017

The Sports Xchange
May 18, 2017

SEATTLE -- Christian Bergman pitched a career-high 7 1/3 innings, allowing only two hits and striking out nine, and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics 4-0 in the finale of a three-game series at Safeco Field.

The nine strikeouts were also a career high for Bergman, a 29-year-old right-hander who spent parts of the previous three seasons with the Colorado Rockies.

Jean Segura and Nelson Cruz each drove in two runs for Seattle, which won twice in the series.

Perhaps the strong start for Bergman shouldn't have come as too much of a surprise, as he was 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five starts at Triple-A Tacoma before being recalled May 7.

Bergman (1-1) retired the side in order in four of his seven full innings Wednesday, including three of the first four.

The A's didn't get a hit until Trevor Plouffe lined a single between third baseman Kyle Seager and shortstop Jean Segura with one out in the fifth.

The only other hit Bergman allowed was a leadoff single by Ryon Healy in the seventh.

Oakland first baseman Yonder Alonso was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning. The A's later announced Alonso, who leads the majors with eight homers in May, was experiencing left knee soreness.

Bergman was replaced after issuing a one-out walk to Mark Canha in the eighth. James Pazos got Adam Rosales to fly out to right and struck out pinch hitter Chad Pinder to end the inning.

Pazos returned for a 1-2-3 ninth.

Jesse Hahn (1-3) continued to be the Athletics' hard-luck starter. Hahn allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out six.

The A's failed to score while he was on the mound for the fourth time in his seven starts this season. Hahn is getting only 2.45 runs of support, one of the worst totals in the American League.

Hahn allowed only a first-inning run before the fifth, and even then allowed only one hard-hit ball.

The Mariners went ahead 1-0 in the first. With one out, Ben Gamel lined a ball that skipped under the mitt of right fielder Matt Joyce and rolled all the way to the wall. Gamel was credited with a triple on the play, and he scored on Cruz's sacrifice fly.

Seattle extended its lead to 4-0 in the fifth as Boog Powell led off with a walk and Guillermo Heredia lined a single into left. After Tuffy Gosewisch sacrificed the runners to second and third with a bunt, Segura chopped a single into center to drive in two and extend his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games.

Gamel then hit a fly ball between left fielder Khris Davis and center fielder Canha, who was making just his second start at the position this season. The outfielders appeared to have some communication issues, with Canha cutting in front of Davis at the last moment to try and make the catch. The ball glanced off Canha's glove and dropped to the ground for a two-base error.

That left runners at second and third with one out. The Mariners got their third run of the inning when Cruz grounded out to third, scoring Segura. Seager walked before Hahn got Danny Valencia on a fielder's choice to end the inning.

NOTES: Seattle DH Nelson Cruz's streak of hits in 14 consecutive games while facing the A's came to an end when he went 0-for-3. ... The Mariners recalled RHP Casey Lawrence before the game and optioned RHP Chase De Jong to Triple-A Tacoma. ... Oakland RHPs Bobby Wahl and Josh Smith combined for three shutout innings of one-hit ball.