The A's offense continues to heat up and provide the young pitching staff with run support, helping themselves to a four-game winning streak by beating Baltimore 9-1 in the opener of their seven-game homestand. Oakland scored six runs in the bottom of the first, with Jack Cust blasting a three-run homer to get things started. Cust returned to the lineup after missing Thursday's game with back pain. Matt Holliday continued to break out of his early season power outage with a majestic three-run homer of his own in the bottom of the fifth, his eighth of the year.
Dallas Braden (5-5) took advantage of the run support and tossed a gem: 7 IP, 5 Hits, 1 ER and 7 K's (a career high). Braden's outing continued a run in which the A's pitching has been stellar, giving up just four runs in the four winning games, while the offense has put up big numbers scoring 26 runs in the four game stretch. The A's haven't had a win streak this long since September of last year.
Trevor Cahill (2-5) will get the start in game two against Baltimore on Saturday versus Orioles rookie Jason Berken (1-1). The A's remain in last place in the West, eight and a half games behind the Rangers.
