SEATTLE -- During a season that hasn't always seen the Oakland A's play up to the competition, one thing that manager Bob Melvin can count on has been the competitive fire of left-handed starter Rich Hill.

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.

"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.