Last year’s Toronto Blue Jays were a powerful bunch, and entering today’s game they had already hit nine home runs in their five games. Oakland Athletics pitcher Trevor Cahill, though, had a pretty good strategy coming into Thursday’s game: spend 23 years developing one of the best sinkers in baseball, and make the other team hit the ball into the ground. The A’s defeated the Blue Jays, 2-1, before a raucous crowd in Toronto.
A’s Vs. Jays: Oakland, Trevor Cahill Sink Toronto
Cahill was masterful, pitching eight strong innings and striking out seven without walking a hitter. Though Cahill was pulled with 105 pitches after the eighth inning, interim closer Brian Fuentes locked down the game with his first save.
Toronto scored the game’s first run after J.P. Arencibia led off the sixth inning with a double and scored on Jayson Nix’s two-out single to right field. The A’s came back in the eighth inning with the power of small ball. Andy LaRoche started the inning with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Coco Crisp struck out, but the ball squirted away from Arencibia, with LaRoche scoring and Crisp reaching first base. Crisp then stole second and came around on a Conor Jackson single. If only someone would write a scathing book in response to "Moneyball," the eighth inning of Thursday’s game could have its own chapter.
The A’s moved to 2-4, and will send Brett Anderson to the hill against the Minnesota Twins on Friday. The Blue Jays dropped to 4-2, and wunderkind Kyle Drabek will pitch against the Los Angeles Angels Friday night.
For more on the A's and Blue Jays and Indians, please check out team blogs Athletics Nation and Bluebird Banter.
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