HOUSTON _ Daniel Mengden got a rude welcome in his return home.
Pitching in front of several friends and family members in his second career start at Minute Maid Park, the Houston native was lit up by the Astros for five runs on six hits with a walk and a strikeout as he lasted just 21/3 innings in Saturday's 11-0 loss. Mengden fell to 2-3 with his ERA now at 4.68 after what was his worst outing of the season.
Mengden found himself in trouble early. Allowing the first three batters he faced to reach base, a pair of sacrifice flies gave the Astros two quick runs before Alex Bregman's booming two-run double off the wall in right that put the Astros (18-10) ahead 4-0.
Though Mengden recovered with a quick 1-2-3 second, a single given up to Josh Reddick with one out in the third prompted A's manager Bob Melvin to end his night and begin what became a brutal night for the bullpen, which allowed six runs over 52/3 innings.
Four home runs were surrendered by A's relievers, including three by newcomer Wilmer Font.
Making his first appearance since his arrival earlier this week in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Font gave up back-to-back homers to George Springer and Jose Altuve in the sixth, with Altuve's a moonshot that actually left the entire stadium, and allowed one more solo shot to Marwin Gonzalez in the seventh to give the Astros their 10th run of the night.
In 121/3 innings combined with the Dodgers and A's this season, Font has now surrendered eight home runs, tied with Cole Hamels, Jakob Junis, and Josh Tomlin for most in the majors.
After the A's offense exploded in Friday's 8-1 win, Lance McCullers kept it silenced Saturday night.
Perfect through five innings, McCullers gave up his first hit in the sixth when Mark Canha led off with a single to center. Stephen Piscotty followed that up with a single of his own, but Bruce Maxwell grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end what was really the only chance of a threat on the night for the A's (14-13).
McCullers surrendered just two hits through seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. It was the second time the A's have been shut out this season.
