Sounds' Blackburn spins seven scoreless

For 4 1/2 years, Paul Blackburn was on the path to Principal Park. On Sunday, he finally made a start there, but it wasn't the way he expected.
Two trades removed from his days with the Cubs, the Athletics' No. 22 prospect faced his former organization and gave up two hits over seven innings as Triple-A Nashville blanked Iowa, 6-0. He struck out four batters and walked one. 

Gameday box score
"It was different, knowing just about everybody that I faced and the coaching staff over there and teammates," Blackburn said. "But it was fun, going against guys that you know, that you hang out with outside of the park and joke around with, but it was fun. I had a good time."
Blackburn (4-5) ran into a little trouble early , but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Over the first two innings, the 23-year-old worked around a single by John Andreoli, a walk to Cubs No. 4 prospect Jeimer Candelario and errors by shortstop Melvin Mercedes and first baseman Renato Núñez that allowed Stephen Bruno and Chesny Young, respectively, to reach. In both cases, the Sounds defense redeemed itself with double plays.
"I really just focus one pitch at a time. Once the ball leaves my hand, I have no control of what happens behind me. I have complete faith in the defense behind me -- they've played great all year," Blackburn said. "Errors happen. I know they're not trying to [let it] happen, but they picked me up and turned a huge double play."
Including the second double play, Blackburn retired 14 straight batters as he cruised through the lineup the second and third times around. The 2012 first-round pick's was halted briefly when Candelario singled in the seventh, but he stranded him at first.
"The whole day I felt good with every pitch I threw and just keeping the ball down and keeping them off-balance really helped me," the California native said. "I felt good, I felt confident, playing with a lot of these guys over the past couple years, knowing their strengths and knowing their weaknesses and how to attack them."

Noting that he mixed his pitches well, Blackburn posted his third scoreless outing in four starts, lowering his ERA to 3.26 in 11 games.
"Honestly, I don't know [what's been going well]. Just keeping guys off-balance, staying within myself and not trying to do too much is really what's been working for me in my good outings," he said. "In a couple bad outings, I just tried to do too much when I shouldn't be. So I just [try to] stay within myself and just pitch like I know how to pitch."
Blackburn was traded to the Mariners with Daniel Vogelbach for pitchers Jordan Pries and Mike Montgomery on July 20, 2016. On Nov. 12, Seattle dealt him to the A's for first baseman Danny Valencia.
"The second time being traded was a little easier than the first time. Playing with guys for four years, a lot of chemistry there, a lot of great memories with those guys," he said. "And going somewhere midseason was a little different than in Spring Training. The team already has its goals and they already have their chemistry and you gotta go in and fit in and try to keep it rolling."
Tyler Sturdevant and Tucker Healy each worked an inning, closing out the Sounds' sixth shutout of the season.
A's No. 4 prospect Matt Chapman and Matt McBride both homered, doubled and drove in two runs for Nashville.

"It's nice," Blackburn said. "All our guys here have been swinging the bat well as a team. We have three or four guys who can hit the ball out of the park anytime, but our offense has been doing very well this year."