By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND, CA–Comfortable opponents are bad news. The Guardians’ Tristan McKenzie was that guy Sunday, mowing down A’s hitters at the Coliseum like he owned the place.

McKenzie pitching into the seventh inning, scattering three hits, and departed with a 6-0 lead. Throughout the 24-year old’s confidence and command of his pitches dominated the afternoon. The Guardians cruised to a 7-3 win and a road sweep of the weekend series.

“To call pitches for a guy like that is awfully fun because even when he’s got something else in mind, you really can’t go wrong when he executes well,” McKenzie’ catcher Luke Maile said of him.

“There were times where he lost the strike zone, but he reeled it back in in a hurry, as opposed to 3-4 hitters,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said.

“For me to be successful, a lot of it is mixing my pitches up and keeping guys guessing,” McKenzie said. “We stuck to the game plan really well today.”

Getting just one runner in scoring position was challenging for Oakland, and didn’t happen until McKenzie was at the end of his shift in the seventh. The loss marked a continuation of the host’s tip-your-hat portion of the schedule. The A’s have managed just three runs or less in eight of their most recent 10 games.

The A’s biggest moments came in the ninth when they narrowed a 7-0 deficit with three runs on the strength of Kevin Smith’s RBI double, which was preceded by Chad Pinder’s RBI sacrifice fly, and Christian Bethancourt’s pinch-hit double. The loss was their sixth in the last eight games.

“It was a tough series for us, losing those first two games the way we did,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Going into today, I thought we had good energy, but we fell behind, and when you get behind, it puts a lot of pressure on our offense.”

James Kaprelian’s season debut was disturbing in that the returning starter said afterwards he felt fine but couldn’t find the strike zone in a ragged stretch in the third inning. Kaprelian dutifully rehabbed his shoulder only to see 12 of his final 13 pitches Sunday translate to three, consecutive walks.

“I pride myself in being able to attack guys and throw strikes and pitch off my fastball and I didn’t do that,” Kaprelian said. “I just need to do a better job, flat-out.”

The A’s trailed 5-0 after Kaprelian’s departure, 6-0 after four, and 7-0 after six innings. Pinder was the only Athletic to get a second hit but he was written into the seventh slot in Kotsay’s batting order.

The A’s face the Rays at the Coliseum on Monday night, the opener of a three-game set. Daulton Jeffries gets the start opposite Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen.