D-Backs offense vanishes again
Athletics’ Mangden pitches 2-hit shutout
OAKLAND – When they left Milwaukee earlier on this road trip, the Diamondbacks sounded tired of tipping their cap to the opposing pitcher. But after getting blanked 3-0 by the Oakland Athletics and Daniel Mengden on Saturday afternoon, they seemed mostly willing to do just that.
Mengden, a 25-year-old right-hander with a four-pitch mix and a hipster mustache, tossed a two-hit shutout. He struck out five, walked none and faced just three over the minimum.
The Diamondbacks’ offensive success on Friday night didn’t have the carryover effect they wanted, but it did seem to allow them to frame their lack of productivity on Saturday in a more positive light. Knowing that less than 24 hours earlier they were able to rack up 12 hits and score seven runs seemed to make it easier to find some of the positives from Saturday.
Not that there were many. They did hit some balls hard; there were seven balls in play that came off the Diamondbacks’ bats at 95 mph or harder, including a few that turned into outs thanks to diving plays by the Athletics’ defense. There was a second consecutive strong performance from Clay Buchholz, the veteran right-hander whom the Diamondbacks signed earlier this month to a minor-league deal and quickly brought stability to the fifth spot in the rotation.
And, well, that was about it. Oh, they also found a positive in the fact that the next day’s starter is Zack Greinke, a fact that makes a potential series victory somewhat palatable.
Of course, they’ll have to score to make that a reality. This road trip has included a pair of games in which they were three-hit and another in which they managed just four hits. The two hits on Saturday were a low for the current stretch, but it’s just the latest data point for an offense that isn’t very good.
The Diamondbacks have now managed four hits or fewer 10 times this season, a shade below 20 percent of their games. They’re now hitting .216 as a team, 10 points worse than any other team in the majors.
That said, the sentiment in the postgame clubhouse on Saturday was part applauding Mengden for his precision and part trying to stay positive amidst a brutal slump.
“The numbers, as far as the line for today, probably wouldn’t suggest it, but I didn’t feel like we were dominated today,” Diamondbacks catcher Alex Avila said. “For the most part, we had some good at-bats put on him. It was just early outs, right at guys, hard-hit balls where they made some plays. They made some nice diving plays throughout the course of the game.”
Mengden threw 76 of his 102 pitches for strikes and went to only four threeball counts the entire afternoon.
“Against me, he didn’t really make any mistakes,” Diamondbacks infielder Daniel Descalso said. “I feel like he made all his pitches down in the zone. He didn’t leave anything up for me to drive.
“I don’t think we were necessarily chasing out of the zone, but I think he was making good pitches. He really wasn’t missing much, in my opinion.”
After snapping a seven-game losing streak on Friday, the Diamondbacks have now lost 14 times in their past 16 games. During that stretch, they’re hitting .178 as a team and are averaging a tick more than two runs per game.
Buchholz gave up a home run to Matt Joyce on his first pitch of the game, then retired 15 in a row and 18 of the next 19 before departing. His velocity ticked up from his previous start – he averaged 90.9 mph with his fastball – and he called it the best he’d felt since undergoing surgery to repair a flexor tendon injury last year.
“Obviously, going out and throwing good, that’s one thing,” Buchholz said. “But the whole goal is to win baseball games regardless. Like I said last time, this team is too good to be down for too long. I think everybody knows it. Nobody’s panicking. It’s early in the year, and there’s a lot of baseball to be played.”