PHOENIX — Oakland A’s right-handed reliever J.B Wendelken fidgeted with his glove as he paced slowly across the right side of the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday night at Chase Field.
Wendelken, who was making his seventh appearance of the year in Oakland’s 11th game, had just allowed back-to-back two-out base hits to the Arizona Diamondbacks, both of which produced runs. By the time A’s manager Bob Melvin came out to retrieve Wendelken, his team’s three-run lead had shrunk to one.
It was a late-game blunder that easily could have allowed momentum to shift to the Arizona dugout. But three mid-90s fastball and a sharp slider from A’s lefty reliever Jake Diekman seemed to thwart the Diamondbacks’ efforts to stir a rally. Oakland went on to win Monday’s two-game series opener 9-5 to improve to 4-7 on the season. The win marked Oakland’s third straight victory and fourth in their past five games.
“I’m perfectly fine with pitching the seventh or if one day it’s the ninth,” Diekman said before Monday’s game.
Between Diekman and right-handed closer Lou Trivino, the back end of the A’s bullpen shined bright against the Diamondbacks in the first of two games in Arizona. Diekman didn’t allow a base runner in 1 1/3 innings and Trivino allowed one hit in his one inning.
“He’s feeling pretty confident as he should,” Melvin said of Trivino before Monday’s game.
It wasn’t just Trivino and Diekman who kiboshed the Diamondbacks’ comeback attempt, though. Oakland’s offense piled six runs on Arizona starter Madison Bumgarner in his 4 2/3-inning outing and scored three more over the final two innings.
The A’s already had a rough sketch of the road to victory against Bumgarner before Monday’s game started. It was a plan that developed in part when they faced the former Giants ace in Cactus League play, Melvin said, noting the A’s expected a heavy dose of cutters on the inner half of the plate accompanied by an occasional backdoor breaking ball.
“He’s going to try and get you to swing at balls off the inside corner of the plate,” Melvin said. “That’s what he’s been doing forever.”
It was enough foresight to allow the A’s to pummel the burly southpaw. Left fielder Mark Canha led the game off with a double down the left-field line and scored after he stole a base and advanced home on an RBI ground out from A’s second baseman Jed Lowrie. Lowrie picked up a two-run double two innings later, giving him the team lead in RBIs (eight).
With his team leading 5-2 in the top of the fifth inning, Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman scorched a home run to deep left field, his second of the season.
In total, the A’s tagged Bumgarner with seven hits, six earned runs and three walks before chasing him. Bumgarner earned his second loss of the season.
“We have an approach,” Melvin said before the game.
A’s starting pitcher Chris Bassitt was effective on Monday night, too. He allowed just two earned runs on two hits and five walks in five innings pitched en route to his first victory of the season. His fastball was lively and his low-70s curveball induced multiple swings and misses from his opponent.
Were the free passes unsightly? Certainly. But the 32-year-old opening day starter controlled the game far better than he did his pitches, a potentially positive sign for things to come.
It was perhaps more stressful than the A’s had hoped it would be but Monday night marked yet another victory for an Oakland team that finds itself amid a small hot streak, a welcomed development after the club started the season 0-6 for the first time since 1916. In their past five games, the A’s have outscored their opponents 28-20.
Pinder to the injured list
Chad Pinder was one of the few bright spots for the A’s in the first days of the season until he sprained his left knee, and now it looks as if the utilityman will be out much longer than anticipated.
Pinder went on the 10-day injury list after the A’s were swept at home by the Houston Astros and is eligible to be activated this week. But Melvin said Pinder has been shut down in hopes more rest will improve his recovery. Melvin said the team’s medical staff doesn’t think surgery will be required.
Pinder injured his left knee when he crashed into the padded right-field wall while making a leaping catch for the first out of the game in the series finale against the Astros. Pinder remained in the game for the remainder of the inning but was removed before he batted.
As it turns out, Pinder had tweaked his knee in a game before that catch and tried to play on it, Melvin said.
• Designated hitter Mitch Moreland hasn’t played since April 8, a day after his 10th-inning, walk-off heroics, because of a sore hamstring. But he was available to pinch-hit Monday, Melvin said.
• Mike Fiers, on the 10-day IL with a lumbar strain, pitched on Saturday and will pitch at the A’s alternate site against the Triple-A RiverCats again on Thursday. He’s scheduled to throw 75 pitches, then one more outing before the A’s hope to bring him back to Oakland.
“Knock wood, all goes well there, after two starts, he’ll be back with us,” Melvin said.
• The A’s will get a look at Diamondbacks rising star Zac Gallen after all. Gallen opened the season on the injured list after suffering a hairline fracture in his forearm in late March, but has been activated to start in Tuesday afternoon’s finale. Gallen was injured while taking batting practice during spring training.
Gallen, 25, has a 2.78 ERA in 27 career starts.
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