For the first month of the season, Sean Manaea was the Oakland A’s ace starting pitcher. However, May has belonged to Daniel Mengden, who threw a shutout against the Diamondbacks on Saturday and has now allowed four earned runs in five starts this month. The lineup chipped in three solo homers, and the A’s won 3-0.
This was Mengden’s second career shutout, and both have come in interleague games against NL opponents. He threw the first one last September against the Phillies. This time around he needed only 102 pitches to blank Arizona, who entered the day ranked 28th in MLB in runs per game, and the entire game was over in a speedy 2:15.