Cust, Giambi lead A’s past Tigers 5-1
July 1, 2009
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—Jason Giambi(notes) and Jack Cust(notes) know that if they both starthitting more consistently, it could do a lot for Oakland’s chances heading intothe second half.
Giambi and Cust broke out of funks with two-run homers, Dallas Braden(notes) endeda four-start winless stretch and the Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 5-1 onWednesday.
“Hopefully we’ll start to get hot,” Giambi said. “Hopefully it’s comingaround. I’ve been kind of waiting.”
So have the A’s faithful, accustomed to Giambi’s powerful stroke during hisfirst stint with the franchise from 1995-01. He won the AL MVP in 2000 with acareer-best 43 home runs, then left for the New York Yankees after the ’01season.
Giambi’s drive in the sixth off Justin Verlander(notes) (8-4) was home run No. 407,tying him with Duke Snider for 43rd place. The 38-year-old Giambi, who has beendealing with sore legs and entered the game with an American League-low .197batting average, was in a 2-for-28 stretch before the homer after striking outin his first two at-bats.
Series at a Glance Detroit 1 Oakland 7 Mon, Jun 29 – Final Detroit 5 Oakland 3 Tue, Jun 30 – Final Detroit 1 Oakland 5 Wed, Jul 1 – Final
Cust struck out in the second—his 80th of the year—before connectingwith two outs in the fourth for his team-leading 14th homer. That put Oaklandahead 2-1. He had been 4-for-24 with 13 strikeouts in his previous seven games.
“It’d be big, obviously,” Cust said of getting improved production fromhim and Giambi. “The more guys you have going in your lineup the better you’regoing to be. His average isn’t where he wants it to be. My average isn’t where Iwant it to be.”
Gerald Laird(notes) hit an RBI double in the second for the AL Central-leadingTigers, who had won nine of 12 but were punchless in the series finale.
Braden (6-7) pitched seven strong innings to win for the first time in fivestarts since beating Baltimore on June 5. He had gone 0-2 during the winlessstretch. Brad Ziegler(notes) and Andrew Bailey(notes) each pitched a scoreless inning ofrelief.
“I thought we looked a little sluggish and a little tired,” Tigers managerJim Leyland said. “We didn’t do too much. Hopefully a day off will perk them upa bit.”
Verlander allowed runners in all but two of his six innings. Thehard-throwing right-hander allowed six hits and four runs, struck out six andwalked one. He reviewed tape of the home runs and thought they were goodpitches, saying, “So I can’t be too disappointed.”
Detroit Tigers' Justin Ver… AP – Jul 1, 6:15 pm EDT
Orlando Cabrera(notes) had two of those hits. He extended his hitting streak to 14games with a first-inning single, then added another in the third. His hittingstreak is the longest by the A’s this season and one away from matching hiscareer high, accomplished in 2003 and ’07.
Oakland bounced back with a winning series following a five-game losingstreak that included getting swept at home by the Colorado Rockies last weekend.
“It’s nice to see the hits come when we really needed them,” Braden said.“It’s a great turnaround. This is the kind of baseball we know we can play.”
The A’s avoided falling 13 games under .500 for the first time this season.They won for only the second time in eight games and for just the fourth time intheir last 12 games at the Coliseum. Oakland went 3-6 on this homestand.
Kurt Suzuki(notes) added an RBI double for Oakland in the eighth and Travis Buck(notes)also had a double in his first start since being recalled from Triple-ASacramento on Monday.
The Tigers are 15-6 against the AL West this season, including 4-2 versusthe A’s. The clubs face off again next month in Oakland for their last threemeetings of 2009.
NOTES: A’s 2B Mark Ellis(notes) will join the team late Friday in Cleveland. He isstaying back in the Bay Area during Thursday’s off day for the birth of hissecond child, a girl, with wife Sara. … Cust struck out again in the eighth,his 81st of the year. … Giambi came in 1-for-16 against the Tigers thisseason. … Cabrera hasn’t walked during his hitting streak, the second-longestsuch stretch in Oakland history. … Detroit is 20-8 in day games. … Oaklandmanager Bob Geren plans to rest starting C Suzuki more regularly in the secondhalf and give backup Landon Powell(notes) additional starts. … Verlander was calledfor his third balk of the year, matching a career high. He has a 5.47 ERA overhis last four starts.
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