There's just something about my threads that Rajai Davis digs.
On June 11, his walk-off single gave the A's a come-from-behind victory over the Twins. Six days later, he hit his first homerun of the season in a 5-4 win at Dodger Stadium.
And tonight he went 2-for-4 with a steal and two runs scored in Oakland's first Bay Bridge Series triumph of 2009 before 27,324 at the Coliseum.
The beneficiary of Davis' fine night at the plate and on the basepaths was Trevor Cahill, who pitched seven stellar innings in evening his record to 5-5.
Travis Ishikawa homered to right with two outs in the second inning to put the Giants on the board first. They would score no more.
The A's forged ahead with a pair of runs in the fourth. Jack Cust led off with the single through the shift, then stole second base. The A's are now 2-0 when Cust swipes a bag this season. Just thought you wanted to know that. Matt Holliday walked, setting the stage for Orlando Cabrera who hit the first of two two-baggers on the night to plate Cust. After Davis hit it to one of the few places that wouldn't score a run (third base), Ryan Sweeny followed with a ground ball to short that scored Holliday with the lead run.
For awhile there it looked as if the A's were going to keep letting scoring chances slip away (not that it mattered the way Cahill was dealing). Then Bobby Crosby came through. No, that's not a typo.
Clinging to that 2-1 lead in the sixth, and having left at least one man on base in every inning except the third, it looked to be more of the same when Ryan Sweeney stuck out with men on the corners and no outs. That brought up Crosby.
The man with the .196 batting average stroked an opposite-field two-run single to give the A's a 4-1 cushion. Cabrera had led off the frame with his second double and took third on a beauty of a bunt by Davis (he later he stole second just ahead of Bengie Molina's throw).
Meanwhile Cahill was mowing them Giants down. After inducing an inning-ending double play off the bat of Aaron Rowan to end the fifth, he needed just ten pitches to retire the side in order in the sixth, and set them down 1-2-3 in the seventh before calling it a night (7IP, 4H, 1R, 1BB, 4K).
The A's tacked on another run in the eighth when that man Rajai led off with a triple and scored on a Crosby ground out.
Brad Ziegler took over for Cahill, and he did "ok", if you're into guys who pitch two scoreless innings without allowing a baserunner, while striking out four straight batters.
Well, I am.
We do it again tomorrow. Mazzaro vs. Lincecum, Part II.
