Now this is more like it.
Sparked by Josh Donaldson's first major-league homerun, and a second-straight solid effort by Gio Gonzalez (6.2IP, 3H, 2R, 8K), the A's snapped a four-game losing skid with a 4-3 victory.
The Toronto Blue Jays lit up the A's for 16 runs in the first two contests of this four-game set, but were stymied by Gonzalez, whose room for error wasn't nearly as spacious as his two previous victories this season (21 runs of support). That didn't seem to faze the 24-year old southpaw. He retired the first nine batters he faced, tiptoed in and out of danger in the fourth and fifth frames, and generally kept the Jays at bay all day. Well, at least until he tired in the seventh after having thrown 107 pitches.
Oakland struck first with a run in the second off ex-A Dana Eveland. Consecutive one-out walks by Eveland put Jake Fox in position to belly flop home on a single by Eric Patterson.
The A's increased their lead to 4-nil with three runs in the fourth, the first two courtesy of Donaldson's homerun to deep left, the last on an RBI-single by Rajai Davis.
Today, four runs were good enough. Barely.
The Jays scored a single run in the fourth and added a pair in the seventh, but were allowed no more as Andrew Bailey was summoned to record a four-out save.
But the afternoon belonged to Gio Gonzalez who has taken on the curious role of stopper; his last two starts have followed an A's loss, and he's come through both times.
The A's are back over .500 and we do it again tomorrow.
