The Oakland A’s lost another starting pitcher to an injury, then saw their bullpen battered like a pinata in a 16-2 loss Friday night to open their weekend series against the Boston Red Sox at the Coliseum.
Andrew Triggs pitched the first inning, giving up an unearned run, then had to leave because of a bad back. Zach Neal took over and gave up an unearned run of his own over the course of the next three innings.
In the fifth and sixth innings, however, the Red Sox scored 10 times to put the game well out of reach. David Ortiz, at 40 making his last swing through Oakland before retiring, drove in three runs with a couple of singles and a sacrifice fly.
Ortiz has 105 RBI with a month left in the season. The RBI record for a 40-year-old player is 108, and the last three innings Friday were spent wondering if Ortiz would take Dave Winfield (1992) out of the record books before the evening was over. Nope - he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning.
And it wasn’t just Ortiz punishing A’s pitching. Travis Shaw hit a three-run homer and two doubles while driving in five runs. Hanley Ramirez doubled, singled and drove in three.
It’s a tired story. Oakland’s mound corps has served up nothing but mush against the Red Sox all year. In three games in Boston in mid-May, the Sox scored 14, 13 and 13 runs, so Friday’s total was right about par.
A’s pitching has allowed 1.67 runs per inning to the Red Sox, which is a searing indictment of the differences between the playoff-bound Sox and the last place A’s. The first two Boston runs were unearned thanks to errors by Marcus Semien and Brett Eibner. That gave Red Sox lefty David Price some wiggle room, but the A’s reached him for three hits and two runs to tie the game at 2-all in the fourth.
The tie had a short shelf life. Five consecutive two-out hits off Neal and Daniel Coulombe produced four runs in the fifth. An inning later, Coulombe and JB Wendelken combined to allow six runs, and the game quickly devolved into another typical Boston blowout of Oakland.
Daniel Mengden will be activated Saturday and will start against the Red Sox, his first big league start since July 25. Manager Bob Melvin said Mengden has pitched better than his 1-5 record and 5.73 ERA with Oakland would suggest.
“He really got our attention early on, and we felt like when we sent him down he was just a little bit tired,” Melvin said.
“(Nashville) cut down on his workload, and he’s been pitching great ever since.”
Triple-A manager Steve Scarsone was named Pacific Coast League manager of the year. The Sounds are 83-57 and in first place in their division.
“For them to finish the way they have and for us to have taken as many players as we have from them is really a feather in his cap,” Melvin said.
“That team was in Stockton two years ago, in Midland last year; there is a core group of guys we are really excited about.”
Sean Doolittle came off the disabled list before the game, later than the A’s had originally hoped, but, Doolittle said, the time is right now. He clocked 93-94 mph on the radar gun his last two times out.
Matt McBride, who had been up with the club earlier in the season, was the first player promoted from Nashville with the roster limit going from 25 to 40 on Thursday. He’ll serve as the third catcher.
Starter Sonny Gray played catch before the game, throwing out to 90 feet, and said “I feel pretty good” when he was done. He and the A’s have some hope he will get a chance to pitch again before the season is over.
Jesse Hahn is off the disabled list, but after giving up 11 hits and seven earned runs in 3.2 innings in his last rehab start, he’ll stay with Nashville and get more work.
“It’s been a tough year for him,” Melvin said. “But we still feel like there’s a bright future for him here.”
Starter Sean Manaea (left back strain) played catch Friday. “He felt better,” Melvin said. “I don’t think we’re in position to forecast when he’s going to start again. But he feels better, and that’s important.”
Melvin said “we have a couple of other guys we’re going to take a look at in the interim,” without naming names. Jharel Cotton, who threw 5.2 innings of scoreless ball for Nashville on Thursday, is one, and Raul Alcantara, who is 5-0 with a 1.18 ERA in eight starts for the Sounds, is the other.
Another injured starter, Henderson Alvarez, is down to go three innings Saturday for Class-A Stockton. Melvin said no decision has been made yet as to what happens after that.

RESULTS
Chicago Cubs 2 San Francisco 1
Atlanta 8 Philadelphia 4
Milwaukee 1 Pittsburgh 0
Baltimore 8 NY Yankees 0
Cleveland 6 Miami 2
Cincainnati 3 St. Louis 2
Tampa Bay 8 Toronto 3
Washington 4 NY Mets 1
Texas 10 Houston 8
White Sox 11 Minnestoa 4
Detroit 7 Kanas City 6
Colorado 14 Arizona 7
Boston 16 Oakland 2
Seattle 11 LA Angels 8
San Diego 4 LA Dodgrs 2