Denver, CO – Rookie Jarrod Parker gave up just three hits in seven innings Thursday, Brandon Moss homered and knocked in three runs and the Oakland Athletics routed the Colorado Rockies, 8-2, to complete a three-game sweep.
Parker (3-3) walked just one batter and struck out six, throwing 60 of his 89 pitches for strikes in another strong June outing. The 23-year-old righty took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against Texas on June 4.
Josh Reddick also homered for the A's, who won all three games after being swept by the Diamondbacks in their last series.
"It was a good series you know," said Oakland manager Bob Melvin. "We tried not to dwell on the previous series coming into this, and we had some good games here."
Marco Scutaro homered off Brian Fuentes with one out in the ninth to break up the shutout, but the Rockies lost their eighth straight game -- their longest losing streak since dropping nine in a row last Sept. 15-23.
Alex White (2-5) gave up four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits and four walks in just four innings to take the loss. He struck out five.
"I think we were getting hit a little bit too much today," said White. "We tried to stay in this game here and it just got away from us."
Parker faced the minimum in four of his seven innings. He gave up a leadoff single to Dexter Fowler in the first and base hits to Chris Nelson in the third and sixth. He walked Fowler in the sixth and both runners moved up on a ground out in the only real action against the A's starter.
The A's took a 2-0 lead in the second inning after Moss doubled, Kurt Suzuki singled and both runners scored when third baseman Jordan Pacheco's low throw on a grounder by Adam Rosales skipped past first.
After Reddick doubled to lead off the third and Seth Smith walked, they moved up on a passed ball and scored on Moss' double off the right field wall to make it 4-0.
White pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, his last inning.
Reddick hit a towering homer to right off Matt Reynolds in the eighth, his 15th of the season, and Moss led off the ninth with his fifth. Oakland's three-run rally in the ninth also included an RBI single by Coco Crisp.
After Scutaro's fourth homer of the season, Tyler Colvin added an RBI double off Fuentes.
Game Notes
The A's swept the Rockies in a three-game series from July 15-17, 2001. The Rockies swept the last series between the teams, winning three straight from June 26-28, 2009...Colorado was swept by Angels in its last series...The A's went 3-3 on a six-game road trip and were headed back to Oakland for a nine- game homestand starting with three against the Padres this weekend...The Rockies are headed on the road for a nine-game trip that starts Friday in Detroit.
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