OAKLAND -– Scott Kazmir carved through the Seattle Mariners’ lineup Thursday night for one of his most dominant starts in an A’s uniform.
The left-hander fired eight scoreless innings and allowed just two hits in the A’s 4-0 victory to open this four-game series at the Coliseum.
Kazmir had a perfect game going until the fifth, when Franklin Gutierrez doubled down the right-field line with one out. It was Gutierrez who would notch the only other hit off Kazmir, a single to left field to lead off the eighth. The only other base runner allowed by Kazmir came later in the eighth when he hit Logan Morrison with a 3-2 pitch that would have been a walk anyway.
The lefty struck out seven and tied his season high for innings pitched.
Edward Mujica came on to deliver a perfect ninth and the A’s had registered their American League-leading 10th shutout in a game that clocked in at just 2 hours, 17 minutes.
Starting pitching report
Kazmir, who came in with a 4-5 record but a 2.79 ERA, was in control the entire night. He was pulled after 105 pitches. Kazmir has just two complete games in his career. One came last season with the A’s. The other came on July 3, 2006, when he shut out Boston while a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Bullpen report
The relievers mostly got to watch their teammates’ gem, and Mujica barely broke a sweat in the ninth.
At the plate
Josh Phegley delivered a two-run double down the right-field line in the first to get the A’s on the board. Marcus Semien connected for a solo homer to left in the fifth, and Mark Canha drove a run-scoring triple off the wall in right-center to score Brett Lawrie in the seventh.
In the field
Neither team committed an error.
Attendance
13,062
Up next
Jesse Chavez (4-7, 3.02) and J.A. Happ (3-5, 3.89) take the mound in Friday’s 6:05 p.m. game, with fireworks to follow afterward.
