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Haren shines as Diamondbacks pound Athletics

Jun 19, 2008 - 5:40 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Dan Haren didn't disappoint in his first start against his former team and, for at least one night, the Arizona Diamondbacks' offense regained its early-season form.

Haren struck out eight over seven innings and hit a bases-clearing double Wednesday, leading the Diamondbacks to an 11-1 rout of the Oakland Athletics.

Acquired by Arizona in an eight-player offseason deal with the cost-conscious Athletics, Haren (7-4) improved to 7-1 at Chase Field this season with a performance reminiscent of 2007. Last year, the righthander went 15-9 with a 3.07 ERA - the sixth-lowest mark in the majors - on his way to his first All-Star Game in his final season with Oakland.

"It was a little weird, some of those guys are really close friends, (like Mark) Ellis (and Eric) Chavez," Haren said. "(Joe) Blanton is one of my closest friends. I was in the same rotation with him for three years and went through some wars together. You can look at it both ways. They know what I throw and know how I am going to attack them."

"I played behind him for three years but it doesn't prepare you to face a guy with stuff like that," Oakland shortstop Bobby Crosby said. "He throws all his pitches for strikes and all his pitches had good movement. That makes it tough."

Haren allowed just one run and four hits on Wednesday, all while handcuffing an offense that produced 15 runs and hit six homers against the Diamondbacks in the series opener Tuesday.

Arizona, which scored eight or more runs in nine of its first 30 games this season on its way to jumping out to a major league-best 21-9 start, has struggled to find consistent offense for most of June. The Diamondbacks posted at least eight runs in a contest for just the second time this month.

"Maybe we took (Tuesday) a little personal," Haren said. "We came out flat yesterday and the offense made quite a statement tonight. It kind of felt like April getting all those runs early, then rolling."

Wednesday's run total matched their season high and halted a three-game slide in which the Diamondbacks were outscored, 35-7.

While Haren escaped through a rough first inning unscathed, Blanton (3-10) was roughed up in his half of the frame. The A's righthander allowed the first four Arizona hitters to reach base, capped off by Chad Tracy's bases-loaded double to put the Diamondbacks ahead, 2-0.

"I went out with a pretty aggressive approach," Haren said. "I had to battle that first inning, had almost 30 pitches, but was able to get out of that. We then put up a couple of runs and got really aggressive after that."

Blanton, who became the first American league pitcher to lose 10 games, recovered to record two consecutive outs, but could not escape the inning when Chris Young crushed a curveball into the left field stands for a three-run blast.

"A lot of times that first inning takes the pressure off," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We have been struggling offensively for the big hit, then we get a couple of big ones and C.Y. (Young) hits the big one and everybody relaxes."

Haren even contributed to his own cause in the third with his only hit of the contest to stake Arizona to a commanding 8-0 advantage.

Blanton lasted only three innings, his shortest outing since May 25, 2005, after surrendering eight runs and seven hits.

"Last night, their pitcher couldn't get the ball where he wanted to and ours had pinpoint control, then the tables turned 180 degrees tonight; it was the exact opposite," A's manager Bob Geren said. "It seemed like the location of the pitches were not where he (Blanton) wanted them, a little bit high.

"It looked like he was going to get out of the one inning but he gave up the breaking-ball home run then he had two outs facing the pitcher and (Haren) hit one over the center fielder's head. Two big blows and we couldn't recover."

Jeff Salazar added to the A's embarrassment in the fifth with an RBI double before Stephen Drew belted his 10th homer of the season - a two-run shot - to conclude the Diamondbacks' offensive explosion.

Kurt Suzuki provided the only blemish to Haren's night with a two-out, run-scoring single in the seventh.