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Athletics-Blue Jays Preview

May 1, 2010 - 10:08 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior Writer

Oakland (12-12) at Toronto (12-12), 1:07 p.m. EDT

The Oakland Athletics finally got a decent pitching performance on the road. Ben Sheets certainly deserves part of the blame for their past troubles.

Coming off a rare road victory, the Athletics hope Sheets can bounce back from a terrible outing as they conclude a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.

After losing the series' first two games, Oakland (13-12) won 4-3 on Saturday behind starter Gio Gonzalez to snap a four-game skid. The Athletics had lost eight of nine at Toronto and seven straight on the road overall.

Oakland held Toronto (12-13) to one hit in six at-bats with runners in scoring position after posting a 9.00 ERA over its previous four games away from home.

Sheets (1-2, 5.00) started one of those contests, enduring his worst outing of the season. He surrendered eight runs and nine hits - two home runs - in four innings of an 8-6 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.

The veteran right-hander's ERA was 2.74 entering that game.

Sheets has a 1.93 ERA in winning each of his two starts against the Blue Jays.

Rookie Josh Donaldson may be Sheets' batterymate following an impressive first start, hitting a two-run homer Saturday. Donaldson was called up from Triple-A on Friday when Kurt Suzuki went on the 15-day disabled list.

Donaldson's shot off Dana Eveland ended a streak of 59 innings without a homer allowed by the Blue Jays.

"One thing I remember about him from when we played in spring training a year ago is that he hits the ball pretty well to left, he's got some pop," said Eveland, who made his first start against the A's after being traded from Oakland to Toronto in February.

Already without Suzuki, Oakland got by with another steady hitter out of the lineup, giving Ryan Sweeney the day off to rest a sore left knee.

The right fielder, though, is expected to be back Sunday. He has reached base safely in all 23 games he has played this season.

Oakland now faces Shaun Marcum (0-1, 3.44), who remains winless mostly due to poor support from the lineup. The right-hander, who has received two runs or fewer to work with in each of his last four starts, gave up one run in seven innings and did not receive a decision in a 2-1 loss to Boston on Tuesday night.

Marcum is 1-1 with a 4.15 ERA in four starts against Oakland.

Toronto has a 2.60 ERA over its last five games, and the Blue Jays' pitching kept Saturday's game close. However, Toronto's rally fell short after scoring 16 runs in the series' first two games.

Manager Cito Gaston shuffled his lineup, resting first baseman Lyle Overbay and using center fielder Vernon Wells as the designated hitter. Overbay is off to a poor start, batting .181 with 28 strikeouts in 83 at-bats.

Fred Lewis, who has also been struggling, is coming off a three-hit performance, raising his average from .200 to .245. Lewis, acquired from San Francisco in April, also picked up his second RBI.