Canha’s walkoff homer leads Athetics past Mariners

OAKLAND — Mark Canha couldn’t tell exactly what the pitch was coming at him was. All the 28-year-old outfielder knows for sure is where it landed.

Canha hit a game-ending home run in the ninth inning to lead the Oakland Athletics past the Seattle Mariners 6-5 on Wednesday.

Canha’s drive to left, his fifth this season, came on a belt-high, 1-0 cut fastball from Shae Simmons (0-1).

It was his second walk-off homer this season and Oakland’s eighth.

Oakland avoided a three-game sweep and snapped an eight-game losing streak to Seattle.

“I don’t know, it was one of those things,” Canha said. “It happened so fast, and I just saw it really well. I think it just says that I was in a good position and saw it well, and that’s all that mattered.”

The A’s improved to 15-10 in September, clinching their first winning month since April of 2016. They won 15 games in a month for the first time since June 2015.

“For a lot of reasons, we wanted to win today,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve had a good thing going here recently. We’ve been consistent at home all year. To get swept in the last series at home would’ve been disheartening for what we’ve had going on. And of course, we want to win for our fans on the last day here.”

Matt Joyce tied an A’s record with three doubles.

Blake Treinen (3-4) pitched a scoreless ninth, working around a one-out double by rookie Mike Marjama.

The A’s led 5-3 going into the top of the eighth, when Robinson Cano hit a two-run homer off Chris Hatcher.

Cano’s 23rd homer was Seattle’s second game-tying home run on the day. The Mariners trailed 2-0 when Nelson Cruz hit his team-leading 38th homer, a two-run shot off Kendall Graveman in the top of the fourth.

Graveman left the game with a 5-3 lead and was in line to win his fourth straight decision. Oakland’s ace struck out four and gave up three runs on seven hits and one walk in six innings.

“We had quite a run going against Oakland,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We had beaten them seven or eight times in a row. It’s hard to keep that going.”