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Ellis' homer propels Athletics past Orioles

May 8, 2008 - 12:54 AM By Michael Duca PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Mark Ellis kept the surprising Oakland Athletics on the winning track.

Ellis belted a game-winning solo homer in the bottom of the 10th inning Wednesday, lifting the Athletics to a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

With two outs in the 10th, Ellis turned on an off-speed pitch by Baltimore reliever Lance Cormier (0-1) to give Oakland its fourth straight win.

"It feels good just to contribute," Ellis said.

The victory completed a three-game sweep of Baltimore and helped the Athletics improve to 22-14.

Ellis, who broke an 0-for-17 skid with a single in the sixth inning, watched as his blast off Cormier crash off the left field foul pole for the A's second victory in extra innings in 2008.

"I was in a pretty bad slump, and you don't feel like you're contributing," Ellis added. "I know you can play defense, but if you don't cross the plate and score runs, it's a bad feeling."

"I knew right away he hit it out," Cormier said. "It was not a good pitch. I threw a cutter at 1-0, the ball got up, and he went out and got it and kept it fair."

In his sixth season in the majors, Ellis had suffered his worst hitless streak of his career by going 0-for-18 earlier in the season.

Oakland reliever Dallas Braden (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 innings to collect his second career win. Braden's other victory came April 24, 2007, in his major league debut at Baltimore.

"It's funny," Braden said. "In the bullpen we were just talking about my last win. It's taken me a year and a half to win another baseball game, from Double-A to Triple-A to the big leagues."

The Athletics took an early lead on Emil Brown's RBI groundout in the first and added two more in the fifth on Kurt Suzuki's homer off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie.

"I'm enjoying all this winning," Brown said. "I've never been in a situation like this in the major leagues, with a team that is competitive at the top of its division. It's a new story every day, a new hero."

It was Suzuki's first homer of 2008 and eighth of his career.

Baltimore scored a pair of runs to chase Oakland starter Joe Blanton in the sixth inning to cut its deficit to 3-2 on RBI singles by Kevin Millar and Ramon Hernandez.

Blanton allowed two runs, eight hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings, while Guthrie gave up four runs, five hits and three walks - also in 5 2/3 frames.

"I felt pretty good all day," Blanton said. "I hit a lot of spots in the strike zone. I missed a couple every now and then, but my control wasn't any big deal."

After Jack Hannahan's RBI double in the bottom of the sixth gave the A's a 4-2 lead, the Orioles took their first lead of the game in the eighth on a two-run single by Brian Roberts followed by an RBI double by Melvin Mora, giving the visitors a 5-4 advantage.

However, Oakland knotted the score at 5-5 on a pinch-hit RBI groundout by Frank Thomas a half-inning later.

Nick Markakis went 3-for-5 for the Orioles, who've lost five straight.

"Any time the games are close, the emotions are there," Cormier said. "When a walk-off loss like this happens, it's a huge letdown, over and over again."