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 The 36-year-old veteran was at the top of his game again Monday
night, when he threw eight shutout innings to beat the Seattle
Mariners 5-0.
"Every game (Hill) is on the mound, we have a great feeling it's a
game we're going to win," Melvin said after the A's snapped a
four-game losing streak. "He's showing guys that even when things
aren't going well, he's fighting the fight."
Hill (7-3) scattered eight hits while striking out six over eight
innings, falling three outs short of his third career shutout. Over
11 career appearances against Seattle, including four starts, Hill
is now 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA.
He has also accounted for more than a third of the wins for the
struggling A's (20-26).
"We continue to fight," Hill said. "That's the theme of this ball
club. We're going to have to fight every game. It's a cliché, but we
have to play one game at a time, one pitch at a time, and continue
to fight."
Oakland's Stephen Vogt broke a scoreless tie with a leadoff homer in
the seventh, then the A's (20-26) broke the game open with four
unearned runs in the eighth.
 Vogt's fourth home run of the season came on only the A's third hit
of the night. Two errors by Seattle shortstop Chris Taylor, a recent
call up from Triple-A, paved the way for Oakland to open up a 5-0
lead in the eighth.
The A's (20-26) handed Seattle its first loss in five games. The
Mariners (26-18) stranded six runners on base.
Seattle starter Taijuan Walker (2-4) allowed just four hits and one
earned run over 7 1/3 innings. He was dominant for most of the night
but served up the Vogt homer and was charged with two unearned runs
during the A's four-run eighth.
Walker retired 16 consecutive batters at one point, following a
leadoff single from Oakland's Coco Crisp in the first. A's right
fielder Jake Smolinski ended that streak with a sixth-inning single.
"I felt good," said Walker, who fell to 0-4 in May with the loss. "I
used the fastball really well. My fastball command was really good
today. I made them put the ball in play and got quick outs."
Walker got plenty of defensive help. Center fielder Leonys Martin
ran down a deep liner off the bat of Marcus Semien in the sixth,
then second baseman Robinson Cano made a nifty play with his glove
to get a force at second in the sixth. With a runner on first, Cano
tried to backhand a hard-hit ball off the bat of Crisp, but the ball
glanced off his mitt. Before the ball hit the dirt, Cano batted it
with his mitt into the glove of shortstop Chris Taylor for the force
at second base.
Vogt finally broke through with the leadoff homer in the seventh,
giving Oakland a 1-0 lead.
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"In games like that," Melvin said, "it seems like more than one
run."
Taylor's defensive struggles helped blow the game open in the
eighth. A's shortstop Semien hit a routine grounder to Taylor to
lead off the eighth, but Taylor threw it over the first baseman and
into the stands to put Semien on second. Oakland right fielder Jake
Smolinski delivered a one-out, RBI single up the middle to score
Semien for a 2-0 A's lead.
Taylor made another throwing error to put runners on second and
third before Walker's final four pitches of the night came on an
intentional walk to load the bases. Reliever Vidal Nuno came on and
hit Vogt with his second pitch, driving in another run for a 3-0
Oakland lead. Nuno, having thrown just two pitches, passed the ball
to Joel Peralta, who then served up a two-run double to Oakland's
Danny Valencia as the A's pulled out to a 5-0 lead in the eighth.
"It's tough," said Taylor, who had been called up two days earlier
as a replacement for injured starter Ketel Marte. "Definitely not
the way I wanted to start out. But that's baseball and it happens.
I've got to have a short memory."
Reliever Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off the A's
win.
NOTES: The A's have still yet to name an official probable starter
to replace RHP Sonny Gray for Wednesday's game. Gray was placed in
the 15-day disabled list over the weekend, and Oakland is likely to
make a move to call up a Wednesday starter from the minors. ...
Seattle SS Chris Taylor was in the lineup for the first time this
season Monday. Taylor, who has had stints with the Mariners in each
of the past two seasons, was called up Sunday as a replacement for
injured SS Ketel Marte. ... Seattle LF Norichika Aoki was in the No.
8 spot for the first time this season on Monday. Aoki had been
batting leadoff, but CF Leonys Martin moved up to that spot Monday.
... The Mariners' 18-7 road record was the best in baseball heading
into Monday night, but Seattle holds an 8-11 record at home.
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