Diamondbacks no-hit through 5 innings, lose to Oakland A’s
May 27, 2018, 3:57 PM | Updated: 4:07 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks' David Peralta scores a run against the Oakland Athletics during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, May 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher and Cy Young winner Zack Greinke had a solid outing Sunday, allowing two runs off six hits and three walks in six innings against the Oakland Athletics.
A’s pitcher Frankie Montas, called up from the minors Sunday morning, fared better in a 2-1 D-backs loss.
Montas, coming into the game with a career ERA of 6.32 in 30 appearances, made his first major league start since 2015.
He no-hit the D-backs through five innings.
In the top of the sixth, catcher Jeff Mathis hit a blooper single.
Suddenly, Arizona was seeing the ball better. The team had three hits that inning, more than the previous 14 combined.
A sac fly from third baseman Jake Lamb briefly tied the game at one.
It wouldn’t hold.
In the bottom half of the inning, Greinke struck out the first two batters – including a 68-mph eephus pitch that left Jed Lowrie shaking his head with a slight smile while walking back to the dugout – before walking the next two hitters.
With two outs, A’s third baseman Matt Chapman got a base hit to put Oakland up 2-1.
For a D-backs team that has has scored more than two runs only three times over its previous 15 games, this felt like a death sentence.
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A’s pitcher and former D-back Yusmeiro Petit sent Arizona down 1-2-3 in the seventh.
Lou Trivino sent the D-backs down 1-2-3 in the eighth.
In the ninth, the D-backs went down in order again against Blake Treinen.
This three-hit outing comes a day after Arizona was shut out and limited to two hits.
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt finished Sunday with a hit, walk and strikeout.
Second baseman Ketel Marte, right fielder Socrates Brito, shortstop Nick Ahmed and center fielder Jarrod Dyson went a combined for 0-13 with three strikeouts in the five-through-eight spots in the lineup.
The D-backs struck out 10 times. Seven were against Montas, who gave up all three of the D-backs’ hits in the sixth inning.
The 25-year-old was good enough to beat Greinke.
Arizona’s veteran has proven to be a reliable stopper for D-backs’ losing streaks over the last year-plus.
Even with the DH hitting on Sunday, though, the offense wasn’t able to provide him with necessary support.
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