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Jun 6, 2009 - 6:29 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Baltimore (24-31) at Oakland (23-30), 9:05 p.m. EDT

It took two months, but the Oakland Athletics are finally starting to hit and pitch well at the same time.

The A's look to extend their season-high winning streak to five games Saturday night while trying for a seventh consecutive victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles.

Jack Cust and Matt Holiday hit three-run homers, and Dallas Braden matched his career high with seven strikeouts in Oakland's 9-1 series-opening victory Friday.

With 233 runs and a .240 batting average, the last-place A's (23-30) have one of the least productive lineups in the AL, but have outscored the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore 26-4 during their four-game winning streak while batting .256.

The A's won a season-high five in a row twice last year.

"It's nice to see the offense take off," Oakland manager Bob Geren said.

Holliday is batting .455 (10 for 22) with two homers and eight RBIs over his last six games. Cust, meanwhile, has two home runs and five RBIs in his last three contests.

While the A's are starting to come alive at the plate, their pitching has never been better this season. With a rotation made up of young talent, Oakland has allowed three earned runs in 36 innings and recorded two shutouts over its last four games.

"These guys are absolutely throwing the snot out of the ball," Braden said. "As a whole we want to put together a nice body of work and I think we're kind of on the right track to doing so."

Trevor Cahill (2-5, 4.33 ERA) hopes to continue Oakland's success. Though the 21-year-old rookie looks to avoid a fourth straight losing decision while making his first appearance versus the Orioles, Cahill hasn't pitched poorly as he's gone 0-2 with a 2.84 ERA in his last three starts.

The right-hander, who has received two runs or less of support in seven of 11 starts, allowed two and three hits in 5 2-3 innings, but didn't factor in a 6-2 loss to the White Sox on Monday.

"He's good," Chicago catcher A.J. Pierzynski told the Athletics' official Web site of Cahill. "He has a lot of movement on the ball. It makes it tough, as a hitter, to square him up."

The Orioles (24-31), who have lost three in a row and five of six since winning a season-high five straight, counter with fellow rookie right-hander Jason Berken.

Coming off a victory in his major league debut on May 26 against Toronto, Berken (1-1, 2.25) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings of a 3-0 loss to Detroit on Sunday.

"We'll take those kind of outings from our starters all the time," manager Dave Trembley told the Orioles' official Web site.

Luke Scott hit his 13th homer Friday for Baltimore, which has been outscored 20-5 in its last three games. Scott is batting .404 (23 for 57) with 10 homers and 22 RBIs in his last 17 games.

Baltimore, which last won 2-0 in Oakland on July 22, 2007, will be without shortstop Cesar Izturis after he was scheduled to undergo an appendectomy Friday. He is batting .260 with 13 RBIs.