OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Frankie Montas allowed two hits in six sharp innings and the Oakland Athletics won their sixth straight game by beating the Detroit Tigers 3-0 on Friday night.
After opening the season with six consecutive losses, the roller-coaster A’s are back at .500 after 14 games thanks to their follow-up winning streak.
Oakland joined the 1991 Mariners and 1915 White Sox as the only teams to have both a six-game winning streak and six-game losing streak in the first 14 games of a season, according to SportRadar.
“Once you get in a hole like that you’re just trying to win games and win series and try to get your footing again,” manager Bob Melvin said. “I guess there’s some significance with the fact we were 0-6 to start and pretty good since.”
The recent run has been fueled by strong starting pitching. Montas (2-1) gave up only an infield single to Robbie Grossman and a clean single to Victor Reyes during an impressive 100-pitch outing. The right-hander walked one and struck out seven.
A’s starters are 4-0 with a 3.13 ERA during the winning streak after going 0-7 with a 7.91 ERA in the first eight games.
“I felt like I’m the kind of pitcher when I hit my spots and am throwing strikes, it’s tough for hitters to get good timing on my two-seamer when I’m putting it where I want to,” Montas said. “That’s what I did tonight. I located my two-seam pretty good.”
Mitch Moreland and Sean Murphy had two-out RBI hits in the fourth against José Ureña (0-3). The Tigers have lost back-to-back games to Oakland following a three-game sweep at Houston.
Ureña had a career-high eight strikeouts in seven innings and walked only two after issuing nine free passes over 7 2/3 innings in his first two starts this season.
“To see him come in on…
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