By Morris Phillips
OAKLAND–After losing 13 out of 14, and falling out of first place in the NL West, the Arizona Diamondbacks arrived at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday either desperate, panicked or totally focused.
Or completely relaxed.
If the D’Backs’ collective mindset was the latter, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt–hitting just .200 and enveloped in the worst slide of his eight-year big league career–personified it the best. Goldschmidt simply suited up and went back to work, re-energized after a rare Thursday off.
And the A’s Sean Manaea was made to pay, roughed up by Arizona as the Diamondbacks built a 6-1, fourth inning lead on their way to a 7-1 win. Goldschmidt got help from the A’s Chad Pinder, who made an ill-advised dive at Goldy’s base hit, only to see it turn into a two-run triple in the fourth.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks for us and it’s good to come out and get that early lead there and be able to tack on a few,” Goldschmidt said.
The Diamondbacks won easily for the first time since April 26. The A’s lost for the third time in four games at home–after a four-game road sweep in Toronto supposedly built momentum.
Patrick Corbin limited the A’s to a run on four hits in seven innings, with Mark Canha’s solo shot in the third Oakland’s only dent in the scoreboard. The A’s were limited to just two extra-base hits while collectively striking out 10 times. With Corbin dealing, it made for a quiet night at the Coliseum.
Meanwhile, Arizona put it together at the plate, after seeing their team batting average drop to .213, the major league’s worst.
“Guys came after the off day ready to go and we put some good swings on some good, hittable pitches,” shortstop Nick Ahmed said.
“You know at some point in time that’s going to end because they’re too good to go through long stretches like that,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said after looking at the recent numbers of the slumping D’Backs.
Manaea is 1-3 with an ERA over seven in May, after he posted a no-hitter and won the American League Pitcher of the month in April. On Friday, too many pitches over the plate were Manaea’s downfall.
“Just falling behind guys and just not really trusting my stuff right now,” Manaea said.
The A’s resume play with Arizona on Saturday with Clay Buchholz facing Oakland’s Daniel Mengden at 1:05 pm PST.
