CINCINNATI -- Dan Straily was part of Oakland's last youth movement.

Daniel Mengden is a cog in the current rebuilding effort.

The right-handed pitchers squared off at Great American Ball Park on Saturday with Mengden, whose handlebar mustache conjures up memories of Rollie Fingers -- the former Oakland closer and baseball Hall of Famer -- making his major league debut for the A's against the Cincinnati Reds.

Both pitched creditably, but Straily got the little extra support he needed on Jay Bruce's two-run home run that gave the Reds a 2-1 victory before a crowd of 32,034.

The win guaranteed the Reds a winning record on their nine-game homestand, which is scheduled to conclude on Sunday with the finale of the three-game series.

The Athletics have lost seven straight games, their longest losing streak since dropping seven in a row last Aug. 11-17.

Oakland, which has scored a total of two runs in its last three games, is 0-4 in interleague play after back-to-back 2-1 losses to Cincinnati. The Reds improved to 2-7 against American League teams.

Straily (4-2), who broke into the majors with the Athletics in 2012 and also pitched for the Cubs and Astros before being claimed by the Reds on waivers from San Diego in spring training, logged his third consecutive start with at least seven innings. He allowed five hits and one run with three walks and five strikeouts against the team with which he spent the first 2 1/2 seasons of his career.

"It was fun," he said. "I have a lot of great buddies over there, but I was able to focus and get the job done."

Left-handed Tony Cingrani pitched a perfect eighth inning and right-hander Ross Ohlendorf pitched the ninth, allowing two hits but getting an outstanding defensive play by Bruce in right field.

Then Ohlendorf struck out Billy Butler to earn his second career save and first in the National League.

Center fielder Tyler Holt also turned in a clutch defensive play, making a diving catch of Billy Burns' two-out, bases-loaded line drive to end the fourth.

"There were a lot of moments where the game could've changed," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "Holt made that great catch, Bruce went into the corner and his home run."

Mengden (0-1), whose elaborate old-school windup includes a double-pump of his hands as he raises them over and behind his head, lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowed six hits with four walks, five strikeouts and two runs.

"I thought he was great," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "Can't expect any more than that. We're not scoring any runs, not getting any hits, not putting any pressure on the other side. It comes down to one pitch, that's all it was. That shouldn't ruin your day. We just didn't do enough offensively."

Mengden placed his first outing in perspective.

"Not much disappointment at all," Mengden said. "Like I said, it's your major league debut, a pretty good day. Sucks we lost. We fought well. Last inning got two guys on there. Sometimes you lose. Just one of those days. Real happy besides that one pitch."

Other than the third inning, when he allowed Bruce's home run, he pitched out of trouble as the Reds had at least one baserunner reach scoring position in every inning. Mengden threw 104 pitches, 69 for strikes.

"I think that was one of the most impressive things, his composure," Melvin said. "He looked like he belonged from the first inning of the game. Used all of his pitches. Sometimes a guy making his first start is going to lean on just a couple of pitches, but he used all of his pitches. He was very unpredictable today. He did everything to keep them off-balance."

The Athletics pushed across their only run in the first on Coco Crisp's leadoff walk, Stephen Vogt's one-out double down the right-field line and Danny Valencia's single to left field.

Bruce followed Joey Votto's third-inning leadoff walk and Brandon Phillips' line out to shortstop Marcus Semien with a 439-foot shot that landed three rows from the top of the right field section for his 14th homer of the season.

"That's probably all I've got," Bruce said. "It's all I need."

Said Price: "That looked like it was going to leave the stadium. He killed that ball."

Eugenio Suarez led off Cincinnati's sixth with a single and Tucker Barnhart drew a one-out walk. Straily laid down a two-strike sacrifice bunt, prompting Melvin to bring in Ryan Dull, who struck out Zack Cozart to snuff out the threat.

NOTES: Going into Saturday's game, Reds utility player Jordan Pacheco hadn't played since May 31 while dealing with a sore shoulder. He was hitless in his last 12 at-bats, his longest stretch of the season. ... The Athletics transferred OF/1B Mark Canha to the 60-day disabled list to make room on the roster for RHP Daniel Mengden, who was called up from Triple-A Nashville and started Saturday. Canha had season-ending hip surgery on May 25. ... RHP Daniel Wright will start for Cincinnati on Monday in the series opener in Atlanta, manager Bryan Price said Saturday, after mentioning after Friday's game that RHP Alfredo Simon is being moved to the bullpen.