By Morris Phillips

Ten-game roadie through three of the toughest venues the American League has to offer, seven wins, at least one home run hit in every game, a signature moment in Chad Pinder’s eighth inning, grand slam on Saturday, an aggressive approach to every at-bat that brought definition to the Oakland A’s offense, and one, significant injury that will be of concern going forward.

With all that happening and more, starter Daniel Mengden could have struggled to carve out his own niche of notoriety, but his pitching performance Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre was too good for that.

Mengden went seven innings, allowing two hits as the A’s romped, capping a rare, four-game road sweep with a 9-2 spanking of the Blue Jays.

“We went right after it the first couple times through and then started pitching backwards,” Mengden explained. “We just tried to pitch unpredictable as much as we could, and the defense was extraordinary behind us.”

Sunday’s stellar performance marked yet another breakthrough for the former Texas A&M starter who needed 13 starts to win at the Coliseum in Oakland for the first time. Now, Mengden can say he’s the prince of daytime baseball, having won a day start for the first time in 2018 after coming up short on four occasions.

As for the A’s, they came into their own on the completed 7-3 road trip: the starting pitching continued its steady, incremental improvement after a rough start over the first 15 games of the season. Meanwhile, the bullpen was needed early and often over the duration of the trip, and delivered consistently. The offense was carried by the long ball, with Marcus Semien’s fifth inning blast on Sunday the 19th of the trip through New York, Boston and Toronto. And as Mengden mentioned, on Sunday, while he dealt, the A’s defense ran circles in support.