Major League Baseball
Seattle 4, Oakland 0
When: 10:10 PM ET, Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Where: Safeco Field, Seattle, Washington
Temperature: 59°
Umpires: Home - Paul Nauert, 1B - Chris Guccione, 2B - Carlos Torres, 3B - Dana DeMuth
Attendance: 14117

SEATTLE -- Christian Bergman gave the Seattle Mariners exactly what they needed Wednesday night.

Actually, a whole lot more.

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 should not 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.

"That's the same guy I saw in Tacoma," said Mariners right fielder Ben Gamel, who also opened the season in Triple-A. "He can spot it in, spot it up. ... He makes pitches when he needs to."

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 did not get a hit until Trevor Plouffe lined a single between third base and shortstop with one out in the fifth.

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

"It was an awesome night by Bergman. He really stepped up," said Mariners manager Scott Servais, who had a starter complete seven innings for just the seventh time this season. "He was in total command from the get-go."

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.

"He did it swinging," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "He kind of got his leg stuck in the ground a little bit as he was going after a ball away.

"We didn't think a whole lot of it, and then he went out in the field and the popup was hit (by Taylor Motter leading off the bottom of the sixth). He went and made a quick movement to go get it and didn't feel good, so we took him out."

Bergman was replaced after issuing a one-out walk to Mark Canha in the eighth. Bergman received a standing ovation on his way to the dugout from the 14,117 in attendance.

"That was awesome. I love pitching here," Bergman said.

As for his career night?

"I guess that's hard to sum up in a few words," Bergman said. "I normally don't strike that many guys out. If I strike out five or six, it feels like 10."

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.

The left-hander was not shy in describing how much Bergman's start meant for the Mariners' overworked bullpen.

"It was just awesome to watch. He stepped up ... and we needed it," Pazos said. "It was huge. We were just all down there in the bullpen watching him deal like that. ... It made it fun."

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, 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. Kyle Seager walked before Hahn got Danny Valencia on a fielder's choice to end the inning.

"When you make errors in the outfield, it's usually more than one base," Melvin said. "Mark's trying to be aggressive in a position he hasn't played a whole lot. He went a long way to get it, but you know sometimes it takes some time to kind of figure out where your territory is."

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 failed to get an extra-base hit for the first time this season. ... The A's went 1-5 on their six-game trip.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Oakland   Seattle
Jesse Hahn Player Christian Bergman
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 7.1
6 Strikeouts 9
5 Hits 2
5.40 ERA 0.00
Hitting
Oakland   Seattle
Trevor Plouffe Player Ben Gamel
1 Hits 2
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
1 TB 4
.333 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Oakland 2 0 2 .069 10 12 0 2 0 1
Seattle 6 0 8 .207 10 8 4 3 0 0