After dealing with some back tightness, Frankie Montas returned to the rotation and made his first start in nine days. Last Thursday's off day allowed the rotation to continue on turn, but that week-long accumulation of rust showed in the Oakland A's 10-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday afternoon.
The A's move to 16-8, and the Diamondbacks will follow the A's back to Oakland for the final two games of this inter-league series.
Montas' velocity and movement was there, but he couldn't control any of his pitches. With off mechanics, Montas couldn't survive the second inning, walking four batters with nine earned runs, the most the 27-year-old right-hander has allowed in a single outing in his career.
Nick Ahmed's three-run jack in the first inning put the game away and signaled early Montas' outing would be short. It was the first home run Montas allowed this season. Kole Calhoun's 431-foot solo blast to start the second inning was the second.
Montas entered his fifth start of the season with a 1.57 ERA, the fifth-best among starters in baseball. For reference, Texas Rangers' Lance Lynn leads the league with a 1.11 ERA. He has a 24.2 strikeout percentage and a 9.9 walk percentage.
He left the mound with two outs in the second inning with a 4.74 ERA.
With a daunting deficit, the A's offense was listless against right-hander Luke Weaver. They scored one run on Sean Murphy's RBI double, striking out 13 times _ six off Weaver, six off reliever Taylor Widener, one off Yoan Lopez.
