• Preview
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Athletics-Mariners Preview

May 23, 2016 - 2:19 PM Injuries to Sonny Gray and Khris Davis have come at a rough time for the Oakland Athletics, who now sit a season-worst seven games under the .500 mark.

Leonys Martin is making sure the Seattle Mariners don't suffer too much from a key injury of their own.

Rich Hill had a solid outing against the Mariners last month, and he'll face them again Monday night looking to help the A's snap their skid in the opener of a three-game series in Seattle.

Oakland (19-26) placed Gray on the 15-day disabled list Sunday because of a strained trapezius muscle near his right shoulder blade, and Davis is dealing with forearm tightness that kept him out of the starting lineup later in the day.

The A's fell 5-4 to the New York Yankees, who completed a four-game sweep while holding Oakland to nine runs.

"It doesn't feel good," manager Bob Melvin said. "I don't know that we could have fought much harder at the end of this game. And that shows that we're not just saying, 'Hey look, we're injured.'"

Stephen Vogt drove in three Oakland runs with an RBI groundout in the first and a double in the fifth that gave the A's a 3-2 lead.

"We have a lot of things that can bring us down, but right now I think we're doing all right," Vogt said. "With the injuries and losing four in a row, it was a tough four-day stretch for us overall."

Oakland last won when Hill (6-3, 2.54 ERA) allowed one run and three hits in six innings of Wednesday's 8-1 victory over Texas. The left-hander has a 1.96 ERA over his last six starts after posting a 4.15 mark in his first three.

"He's really taken it upon himself to be that guy that gets you real deep into games and takes the pressure off the bullpen," Melvin said. "After a couple of rocky games to start, he's pitched exactly what we saw later on in the year last year. He's been able to sustain it, and that's given us a lot of confidence when he takes the mound."

Hill's best outing during his so-so start to the season came against the Mariners on April 9, when he allowed one run and struck out 10 in six innings of a 6-1 victory. Martin went 0 for 3 batting ninth in that contest, but he's embracing his new role.

Leadoff hitter Ketel Marte went on the disabled list with a sprained left thumb Sunday, and Martin went 4 for 5 from the top of the lineup in a 5-4 victory over Cincinnati later in the day.

Seattle (26-17) has won four in a row.

"(Martin) got us going a couple of times," manager Scott Servais said. "He's a dynamic player. He can do a lot of different things. He sparked us."

After posting a 1.44 ERA over his first four outings, Taijuan Walker has gone 0-3 with a 5.09 ERA over his last four. Walker (2-3, 2.95) allowed four runs on five hits in five innings of a 5-2 loss at Baltimore on Wednesday.

The right-hander pitched well against the A's on April 8, allowing two runs in six innings while taking a no-decision in Seattle's 3-2 loss.