By Kahlil Najar

ST. PETERSBURG – Drew Pomeranz tossed five straight scoreless innings and three other A’s relievers shut out the Tampa Bay Ray’s 3-0. Pomeranz struck out three and only walked a pair of batters. His ERA for May dropped to 0.73 and his ERA on the year is an amazing 0.94.

On his starts Pomeranz said, “my three starts have been a great team effort. We scored a lot of runs and the bullpen shut them down.

A’s reliever Sean Doolittle, who earned the save tonight said, “He’s done an incredible job for us. The numbers speak for themselves, but he pitched out of a couple of jams today and seemed to be in control for the most part, mixing his pitches and changing speeds. He’s looking real comfortable and like he’s pitching with a lot of confidence.”

Speaking of confidence, head coach Bob Melvin alluded to the fact that with his third save of the year, Doolittle may have earned his spot as the closer for the team.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Doolittle.

The A’s scored all their runs in the second inning when after a Norris walk and a Sogard single, Coco Crisp hit his sixth double of the year ans scored both runners and made it 2-0. John Jaso then smacked a single to left field and scored Crisp to make it 3-0.

The A’s forced five Rays pitchers into the game and made it a long night for their pitching crew.

“That’s when we’re at our best. There will be games where we have 11, 12 guys left on base like we did today, and it will feel kind of frustrating, but then there’s other games we’ll get them in and score 10 runs. Either way, the way we work, the starter is significant in scoring the runs and winning the game,” said Melvin.

The Rays and A’s head back at it tomorrow night when Oakland sends Tommy Milone to the mound against Erik Bedard, 4:10pm PST.