Field Level Media
May 26, 2018
Oakland's Matt Joyce, Matt Olson and Chad Pinder hit base-empty homers and right-hander Daniel Mengden threw his second career shutout when the A's beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0 at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
A's leadoff hitter Joyce homered on the first pitch of the first inning off Clay Buchholz before Olson homered in the seventh and Pinder in the eighth for the Athletics, who had lost three of four and had gone seven straight games without a homer until hitting one Friday.
Mengden (5-4) gave up two singles, struck out five and did not walk a batter while stretching his scoreless streak to 16 innings. He blanked Philadelphia on two hits in a 4-0 shutout last Sept. 15, when he struck out seven.
Socrates Brito and David Peralta had the only hits for the Diamondbacks, who have lost eight of nine after breaking a seven-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory in the first game of the series Friday.
Arizona has lost 14 of 16 to fall behind Colorado in the NL West. The Diamondbacks have scored 33 runs in their last 16 games.
Mengden threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the first 24 he faced and did not get into a three-ball count until the sixth inning. He gave up two hits in seven scoreless innings of a 9-2 victory at Toronto in his last start Sunday and has allowed five runs (four earned) in 33 2/3 innings in five May starts.
Buchholz (0-1) gave up two hits and one run in six innings, with three strikeouts and no walks. He made his season debut against the Mets last Sunday, when he gave up two hits and one run in five innings of a no-decision.
Arizona had only three baserunners. Brito singled with two outs in the second inning, Nick Ahmed reached when center fielder Dustin Fowler dropped his fly in the third and David Peralta singled with one out in the sixth.
Mengden retired the final 11 after Peralta's single.
Buchholz retired 15 in a row after Joyce's homer before Pinder doubled to lead off the sixth inning. Pinder was the only other Oakland runner to get as far as second base off Buchholz.
--Field Level Media