Mengden allowed two earned runs on five hits and a walk over 6.1 innings in Wednesday's 4-3 Cactus League loss to the Brewers. He struck out three.
A much-needed quality start for the A's projected No. 3 starter, who's been much steadier over his last pair of outings following a two-appearance stretch where he surrendered 10 earned runs over 6.1 innings. Mengden's recent improvement is an even more welcome sight following a report from Susan Slusser of SFGate.com that projected rotation mate Paul Blackburn will miss the start of the regular season at a minimum due to forearm tightness.