OAKLAND, Calif. _ Reports of the A's starting pitching deficiencies may have been greatly exaggerated.
It's early in the season, but the A's starting rotation has been downright dominant. Mike Fiers was the latest starter to shine on the mound as he held the Boston Red Sox scoreless through six innings of work in Tuesday's 1-0 victory. The A's have now held the Red Sox scoreless through the first two games of their four-game series.
Fiers continued an impressive stretch that he began in the team's home opener last week as he turned in the sixth consecutive six-inning outing by an A's starter. In the past six games, starters have combined to allow just one run in 36 innings, good for a 0.25 ERA over that span.
For a club whose strength was considered to be its offense and bullpen entering the season, the starting pitching has been the reason for the majority of success in this six-game stretch. The A's (5-3) have won four in a row and five of their last six. Their only loss in that time came after the bullpen coughed up a two-run lead in relief of a scoreless six-inning performance by Marco Estrada against the Los Angeles Angels.
Red Sox (1-5) ace Chris Sale did his best to match Fiers but slipped up in the first just two batters into the game when he surrendered a solo home run to Matt Chapman. It was Chapman's third home run of the season and second in as many games. The Gold Glove third baseman has reached base in each of the A's first eight games to begin the regular season.
Fiers allowed five hits with no walks and three strikeouts through six before handing it over to the bullpen.
The trio of Ryan Buchter, Lou Trivino and Blake Treinen had little room for error with the one-run lead. But they combined to shut the door with a scoreless final three innings. Treinen recorded his third save of the year, with an assist from Ramon Laureano, who for a second consecutive night made another jaw-dropping throw from the outfield to nail Xander Boagerts for an out, this time in the ninth as he tried to take third base on a line drive off the wall in right-center. Laureano heaved the ball from center for a perfect strike to Chapman, who applied a quick swipe tag on Bogaerts for the second out of the inning.
The A's showed no fear against the reigning World Series champs in 2018 as they won four of six matchups, and they have now taken their first two games of 2019 against the Red Sox.
