Montas falls 1 out shy of complete game in win

DETROIT -- There was a time in Spring Training when Frankie Montas was unsure about his chances of making the A’s starting rotation. Three months later, not only is Montas in the rotation, he appears to be emerging as one of the top starters in the Major Leagues.

Montas continued what has been a breakout season with the finest start of his career, tossing a career-high 8 2/3 innings in Oakland’s 7-2 win over the Tigers on Friday night. He racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts, allowed just two runs on four hits and did not issue a walk.

Montas had a shot at finishing off the complete game, but after Miguel Cabrera’s RBI single with two outs in the ninth, A’s manager Bob Melvin pulled his starter at 109 pitches.

• Box score

“He wanted to finish that game badly,” Melvin said. “As long as he was under 110 pitches, I was comfortable with it. He’s gotten so good. He’s pitching deeper into games and has more and more confidence. We knew he had a lot of talent in him, but he’s really taking it to another level right now.”

The outing played out much like the way Montas' career has gone. He began the game by relying heavily on his fastball to overpower hitters, throwing it 40 times out of his 56 pitches through five innings. Montas then switched over to his splitter, the pitch he integrated into his repertoire this offseason that has led to most of his newfound success, and he produced swing-and-misses with it on four of his final six strikeouts over the last four innings.

Montas’ night nearly ended when he struck out JaCoby Jones with a fastball to end the eighth. It took some convincing, but Montas managed to talk his way into starting the ninth.

“In the eighth inning, when he asked me how I was feeling, I was like, ‘You’re not about to take me out. I’m feeling good.’” Montas said. “I wanted it. I’m glad he gave me the chance. Of course I wanted to finish the job. But I’ll take whatever.”

Montas is now 5-2 after his strong outing, which lowered his ERA to 2.67. He’s allowed three earned runs or fewer in all nine of his starts.

“He was fantastic,” A’s outfielder Chad Pinder said of Montas. “His tempo, going after hitters, competing with all his pitches. He’s been as consistent for us as anybody.”

Pinder and Mark Canha provided some power in support of Montas. Each smashed two-run homers off Tigers starter Daniel Norris. Canha’s home run was his fifth of the year and second in as many games, while Pinder’s shot was crushed an estimated 437 feet with an exit velocity of 108.1 mph, according to Statcast.

Friendly battle with Miggy

Baseball often features a game within a game, and that took place on Friday between Montas and Cabrera.

It began in the seventh when Montas started out Cabrera’s at-bat with a fastball followed by a nasty slider. Cabrera took both pitches for balls, but stepped out of the box after the second pitch and smiled over at Montas before stepping back, letting catcher Josh Phegley know he was impressed by the pitch as he dug in. Cabrera lined out to right field on the next pitch and had some words for Montas as he walked back to the Tigers' dugout.

“He kind of got in my head a little bit,” Montas said. “He came around and went, ‘Hey, what was that pitch?’ I told him not to worry about it. Then I went the same sequence the next at-bat and he got on that slider. He kind of set me up right there.”

The mind games from the veteran Cabrera seemed to have worked, as he knocked Montas out of the game with his double in the ninth.

That’s some ownage

The A’s have now won 14 straight games against the Tigers, the longest current win streak by one club over another. They’ve also won nine in a row at Comerica Park. It’s almost expected for the A’s to handle business whenever they play Detroit, but the players don’t read too much into it.

“You go out and play,” Pinder said. “It doesn’t matter what jersey they have on. No difference.”

More important for Pinder is the offensive tear the club has been on as of late, following up Thursday’s season-high 17-run output with another strong showing collectively at the plate on Friday.

“There’s a sense of momentum going for us,” Pinder said. “It’s a long road and we’ve hit some bumps, but that’s part of the season. There’s a sense of momentum and hopefully we continue that.”

No-fly zone

Montas entered the night with a 51.9 percent ground-ball rate, good for eighth among MLB starting pitchers. His ability to keep the ball on the ground has been key to his success this season, and it continued against the Tigers, as 13 of his 26 outs came via the ground ball. Only three of his outs were on fly balls.

The uptick in groundouts comes from the way he’s been able to mix in his splitter to an already good fastball and slider to remain unpredictable against opposing hitters.

“It’s three true weapons,” Melvin said. “Even his slider is a lot better than it was before. I think the split helps him out with that in that he gets across his body a little more. Between two of those pitches and a plus-plus fastball, those are the results you’re going to get when he’s getting ahead and keeping the ball down. It’s really good.”

What they said

The Tigers have had a rough go this week as they’ve now lost the first five games of a 10-game homestand, but with the way Montas pitched on Friday, most teams would have had similar results.

“I think you have to look at the guy throwing out there,” Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He threw the ball great, had good stuff tonight. We hit a few balls on the nose at people, but he pretty much shut us down. He used a variety of pitches, a little splitter that he throws, and his slider was good, and a good fastball. He kept us off-balance and did a real nice job.”

“He throws a 97-mph two-seamer that moves a foot and then a slider and a splitter that he commanded today,” Tigers catcher John Hicks said. “He's a tough at-bat.”