Good things always seem to happen to the Diamondbacks when Wily Mo Pena muscles up and hits one out for the Arizona Diamondbacks these days.
Pena did it again, but that early lead he gave Arizona was short-lived, as the Oakland Athletics rocked Josh Collmenter for four runs in the fifth inning and made it stand in their 5-4 win over the D-backs at the O.co Coliseum Friday night.
After Ryan Sweeney tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the fourth with a bloop single to score Hideki Matsui (who'd just stolen his first base of the season and first since 2007), the A's became the Swingin' A's for a change in the fifth.
Oakland's offense is one of the worst in the big leagues, but on Friday, it finally gave a starting pitcher some run support.
The big rally happened with two out in the bottom of the fifth. Oakland had runners on first and second when Cliff Pennington singled to drive in one run. Coco Crisp followed with another base hit for an RB! and 3-1 lead, and Matsui ripped a two-run double before the inning was over.
Gerardo Parra appeared to have a home run in the sixth, but Crisp timed his jump at the wall perfectly to rob Parra with a catch in center field.
The Diamondbacks fought back in the eighth against an old rival, former Colorado Rockies closer Brian Fuentes. After a walk and fielder's choice ground out, Kelly Johnson took Fuentes deep over the wall in right field (picture Van Earl Wright saying that) for a two-run home run.
Arizona looked poised for another late comeback, but Joey Devine for the final two outs of the eighth, and the D-backs never threatened again.
Collmenter failed to last five innings for just the second time in 10 starts this season. He gave up all five runs on seven hits, striking out five.
The lucky A's pitcher was starter Rich Harden, who was in control for six innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with six K's. Andrew Bailey got his seventh save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning, fanning Pena for the last out of the game.
The D-backs (44-39) dropped three games behind the first-place San Francisco Giants in the NL West.