Mengden pitches another gem
Scott Kazmir is long gone, but his legacy lives at the Coliseum.
In the form of Daniel Mengden and Khris Davis.
The A’s returned to life Thursday afternoon with a 7-3 victory over the Rays, and the inspiration came from Mengden, who carried a shutout bid into the ninth inning, and Davis, who doubled off the wall in his first at-bat since May 20.
In July 2015, the A’s were headed for their first of three straight last-place finishes and traded Kazmir to the Astros for Mengden and minor-league catcher Jacob Nottingham, who was flipped to the Brewers the following February for Davis.
“Technically, we got me and K.D.,” Mengden said. “So, yeah, I’d say we won that trade.”
Mengden extended his scoreless-innings streak to 25 innings before yielding Wilson Ramos’ two-run double in the ninth and exiting. He was three outs from becoming the first A’s pitcher with back-to-back shutouts since Mark Mulder in 2001 and first with consecutive complete games since Brandon McCarthy in 2011.
Nevertheless, the scoreless streak was the longest by an A’s pitcher since Sean Doolittle’s 261⁄3 innings in 2014 and the longest by an A’s starter since Cory Lidle’s 32 innings in 2002.
Think he would have had this opportunity with the Astros, who sport the best rotation in the majors?
“When I was with the Astros, they had a really, really big farm system and a ton of talent,” Mengden said. “It’s a business. I’m from Houston, born and raised. It doesn’t really matter who you play for as long as you’re in the big leagues. I’m glad to have the opportunity to start in Oakland.”
The A’s are thrilled, too. They were coming off three straight losses. Their offense was in a funk, as their .155 batting average the first nine games of the homestand suggested. They were another loss from falling below .500.
But Mengden won his fourth straight start, and Davis came off the disabled list to become a difference-maker in the lineup.
“It’s always painful at the time to make those deals,” said general manager David Forst, recalling the Kazmir trade. “You’re never happy to be the team on the side of moving guys at the deadline, but ultimately you hope they end up being Daniel Mengden or (Sean) Manaea the year before in the (Ben) Zobrist trade. You hope a year or two years down the road, you get exactly that.”
Davis, who strained his right groin on a swing in the final game of the previous trip, spent 10 days on the disabled list, and his absence was noticeable. The A’s scored just 15 runs in nine games while he was gone, not more than four in one game, and homered just six times.
Then Davis arrives, and the A’s hit three homers — all by Matts (Olson, Chapman and Joyce) — and score seven runs.
“I don’t think that’s a coincidence at all,” shortstop Chad Pinder said. “He’s got that much influence on our lineup.”
Mengden gave up three straight hits to begin the ninth, capped by Ramos’ two-run double. That was the end for the right-hander after 102 pitches. He struck out five, walked two and stranded one.
Josh Lucas was summoned but couldn’t finish the job. Two of his batters reached base, one on a walk and one on Christian Arroyo’s RBI double.
Closer Blake Treinen earned his 13th save by retiring Johnny Field on a pop-up to short left-center that required a fabulous catch by Pinder, who had the ball pop from his glove only to grab it with his bare hand.