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Athletics rough up Webb, down Diamondbacks

Jun 18, 2008 - 6:11 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- On occasion, the Oakland Athletics have shown they can explode offensively at any time. On Tuesday, they proved it in a big way to Brandon Webb and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Mark Ellis homered twice and scored four times, powering the Athletics to a 15-1 thrashing of the Diamondbacks.

After Ellis scored one of Oakland's two runs in the first inning, he belted a solo shot off Webb (11-3) in the second. He crossed the plate again in the Athletics' three-run fourth before launching a three-run shot in the ninth for his first two-homer game since July 23.

"We feel good right now," Ellis said. "We're swinging the bats real well right now. This is usually the time of the year when we start swinging the bats better, all the way down through the lineup. We feel really good at the plate."

Oakland scored in each of the first five innings, including the fourth, when Eric Chavez swatted a two-run shot. That closed the book on one of the worst starts of Webb's career, as the righthander surrendered seven runs and nine hits in just 3 1/3 innings, walking five and striking out three.

"Our offensive performance was the best of the year," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "Six homers, five doubles, eight or nine walks. Obviously, (that's) a good recipe to score runs.

"We're happy to do that when you have (to face) a pitcher that's 11-2. Facing him, you wouldn't picture that being the end result. Obviously, it's a great day for our offense. Doing it against a pitcher of that caliber makes it more special."

The outing was Webb's shortest since a two-inning stint against St. Louis on September 17, 2004, when the sinkerballer was ejected early. The seven earned runs allowed by the righthander in this one were the most he has permitted since also surrendering seven against San Diego in his final start of the 2006 season.

Additionally, Webb allowed two homers in a start for the first time since May 16, 2007 against the Colorado Rockies.

"Oddly enough, tonight he felt great," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "His velocity was back up. Maybe he had a little trouble harnessing the movement on his sinker at times, but it is one of those weird games. You've got to give them credit, they hit some good pitches."

Despite having recorded 10 runs or more seven previous times entering Tuesday, Oakland found itself just 20th in the league in runs scored due to a somewhat inconsistent offense that had hit 46 homers this season - tied for the third-worst mark in the majors.

Both categories saw a substantial upgrade in Oakland's series-opening rout as the Athletics tied their season high in runs while watching Kurt Suzuki, Bobby Crosby and Rajai Davis homer. The six blasts doubled the team's previous season best.

Justin Duchscherer (7-4) won his third straight start, allowing a run and five hits with six strikeouts in eight frames.

"Early on, we scored some runs, and it gave me a cushion where I felt I could go out there and pound the strike zone and let my defense do its job," said Duchscherer, who improved to 4-1 with a 1.52 ERA over his last five starts. "They made some great plays behind me and we just kept adding on.

"It was one of those days where it's a good feeling for the team to score a bunch of runs, and I felt like I threw the ball pretty well."

Duchscherer was relieved from his 93-pitch outing by Andrew Brown, who worked a perfect ninth.

The 14-run difference was the worst loss Arizona has suffered since a 14-0 setback against Atlanta last July.

Edgar Gonzalez's groundout in the fifth plated the only run for the fading Diamondbacks, who are just 16-25 after starting the season with a major league-best 21-9 record.