The A's did everything to give this one away.
But a win is a win is a win, and Oakland snapped a four-game losing skid with a 5-4 victory at Dodger Stadium.
Hey, a 5-4 score that works for us!
Adam Kennedy got the A's off to a quick start with a leadoff double and later scored on a RBI-groundout by Matt Holliday.
Oakland starter (and winner) Trevor Cahill labored through a 29-pitch first inning in which he walked three consecutive batters- he escaped without allowing a run- then helped his own cause with some nifty glove work to get out of the second frame unscathed.
Matt Kemp led off the inning with a single, and pilfered his way over to third base. With one out, LA hurler Hiroki Kuroda hit a shot back to Cahill, who knocked the ball down and threw out Kemp at the plate. The right-hander then got Juan Pierre to fly out to kill the threat.
Having seen his teammate walk the tightrope, Rajai Davis homered to lead off the third. There's just something about June 17 that brings out the slugger in Davis. One year to the day after hitting his first homerun in an Oakland uniform, he did it again. The silliness didn't end there, as Cahill singled in his first big-league at-bat. One out later he was back at home plate, having scored on a booming homerun by Jack Cust to make it 4-0.
From there Cahill got into a groove, retiring eleven straight batters until Pierre doubled with two out in the fifth. The inning was prolonged by a Kennedy error that allowed Pierre to take third, and he came around to score on a single by Orlando Hudson.
That miscue was a portent of things to come.
The A's got that run back in the sixth, as Cust beat the shift with his third bunt single of the season. Matt Holliday forced Cust, later stole second (his of first of two SB's on the night), and touched home on a base hit by our own Orlando (Cabrera).
An error by OOO (our own Orlando) led to another Dodger run in the bottom half (which ended Cahill's night), and then things turned really ugly after the stretch.
Rafael Furcal walked to lead off the seventh. Hudson then lofted a fly ball towards Cust, who dropped it. James Loney popped up to short, and Cabrera dropped it! Infield fly in effect, keeping runners at first and second with one out. Exit Breslow, enter Ziegler, who promptly gave up a single to Casey Blake to load the bases, and a knock to Andre Ethier to plate Furcal and Hudson. With Dodger fans gearing up for another comeback, Ziegler induced Kemp to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
In the eighth Ziegler escaped again, starting an inning-ending 1-6-3 DP.
On came Andrew Bailey, and of course it wasn't going to be easy. Furcal reached on an infield single that Kennedy had trouble with, but Bailey retired the next three batters to nail down a typically wacky 67M thread the victory.
Well, there's your win, Pam.
(Barely)
