By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND- Drew Pomeranz threw seven scoreless innings and only gave up two hits to earn his first victory of the year. Abad and Alvarez helped complete the shutout and close the door on one of the A’s biggest rivals from last year.

The Oakland offense was able to have what looked like batting practice in the fourth inning and ended the night with 12 runs off of 16 hits. The Oakland 1 thru five hitters when a combined 13 for 23 with 10 hits, 11 runs and nine RBI. In the three spot was rookie standout Mark Canha who went 3 for 5 with two RBI including his first ever Major League home run.

Speaking on Canha, Head Coach Bob Melvin said, “It’s pretty unbelievable. He’s never played in the big league before. What he’s done in the first few games has been special. He’s earned his time. No doubt.”

In addition to Canha a handful of other players contributed tonight. Ike Davis went 3 for 5 with two doubles and four RBI, Sam Fuld had three hits, Ben Zorbist also had three hits and three runs and Marcus Semien had two hits and two RBI.

With all the players contributing tonight, Melvin had this to say, “That makes it a lot easier when most of the guys are doing well. We’re seeing some good things but for a team that has a team with a lot of guys that haven’t played together for a while we’re seeing some great things.”

Oakland started off strong in the bottom of the first inning when they roughed up starting Seattle pitcher Taijuan Walker for 37 pitches.

“It’s paramount (to get to the other teams bullpen early). We have the ability to do it and even if youre not getting hits youre taking pitches and try to get into their bullpen,” Melvin said on attacking the Mariners pitching staff.

After the 3 run first inning, Mark Canha hit his first home run of his major league career to deep left center field with Fuld on base to make it a 5-0 Oakland lead.

In the fourth, the A’s poured on six runs to seal the victory. Semien started off the inning with his second double of the year and after a Sogard ground out Sam Fuld singled to center field to make it a 6-0 lead. Canha then singled and Zobrist was intentionally walked to load the bases for the A’s. Billy Butler came up to the plate and hit a sharp single to Willie Bloomquist who wasn’t able to get anyone out and allowed Fuld to score to make it 7-0. Ike Davis then followed up with his first double of the year and scored two more runners to make it 9-0.

Brett Lawrie popped out to first for the second out of the inning but Steven Vogt drew an intentional walk to load the bases again for Oakland. Semien came up to the plate for the second time in the inning and smacked a single to score Butler and Davis to make it a 11-0 Oakland lead.

Oakland added another run in the bottom of the 8th when Davis hit his second double of the season and of the night to score Ladendorf who was substituted in for Zobrist and made it a final 12-0 score.

Pomeranz is now 3-0 lifetime versus Seattle with an ERA under 1. This was also the third time in his career that Pomeranz was able to go seven innings.

“It was big for him (to go seven). It’s tough to do especially since we’re going 10 in a row and that’s awfully tough to deal with. Especially when you’re trying to keep your starters under 100 (pitches). It was key that he could give us seven innings tonight.”

Oakland and Seattle head back at it tomorrow at the Coliseum when the A’s send Sonny Gray (1-0, 0.00) up against J.A. Happ (0-0). Game time 1:05 pm.