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Blue Jays-Athletics Preview

Aug 18, 2010 - 6:22 AM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Toronto (63-56) at Oakland (58-60), 3:35 p.m. EDT

A strong performance by a starting pitcher has marked each of the first five games of the Toronto Blue Jays' road trip, and they hope another brilliant outing from Marc Rzepczynski decides their series with the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday afternoon.

Beginning his second stint in the majors this season, Rzepczynski (1-1, 4.42 ERA) kicked off Toronto's trip by limiting the Angels to two hits in seven innings of a 3-0 win on Friday night.

The California native, who had a 3.67 ERA in 11 starts as a rookie with the Blue Jays last year, struck out six without walking a batter for his first career road win.

"They gave me the chance, and I'm glad I was able to back it up and do what they needed me to," Rzepczynski said. "I still felt like I had plenty left. I'm not overthrowing it anymore, like I was the last time I was up here. I felt like I could have kept going, which was a good thing."

The Blue Jays (63-56) have relied heavily on a major league-high 183 home runs, but impressive pitching has led Toronto to three wins already on this trip. Ricky Romero pitched seven innings in a 4-1 win over Los Angeles on Sunday, and Shaun Marcum's one-hitter Monday keyed a 3-1 victory to open this series.

Toronto has also been shut down by a starter in its two losses - including Tuesday, when Oakland's Dallas Braden held the Blue Jays to three hits and one earned run in seven innings of his 6-2 win.

"I tried to utilize their aggressiveness against them," Braden said. "I can't give in because they can do some damage. It's almost like staring down the barrel of a beer league team because they can hit home runs almost at will."

An AL-low 3.55 ERA has been the biggest strength for the A's (58-60), who snapped a four-game losing streak Tuesday. Their six runs in the victory matched their total from the skid, with leadoff man Coco Crisp sparking the effort with three hits, two stolen bases and two runs scored.

Oakland managed to win despite going without a homer for the eighth time in its last nine games. The A's rank last in the majors with 71 homers, 112 fewer than Toronto.

Gio Gonzalez (10-8, 3.49) will attempt to anchor another win and help Oakland clinch its sixth consecutive home series. The A's have taken two of three from five consecutive visitors to Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum since the Yankees swept a three-game series there July 5-7.

The Blue Jays, however, have won two of three in each of their last five trips to Oakland, and they're 11-7 on the road since the All-Star break.

Gonzalez was sharp at Toronto on May 1, allowing two runs and three hits without a homer in 6 2-3 innings of a 4-3 victory.

The left-hander is coming off a frustrating 4-3 loss at Minnesota on Friday. Gonzalez limited the Twins to three hits in six innings, but gave up four runs - two earned - in part because of four walks, two Oakland errors and a squeeze play.