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Blue Jays, A's resume set at the Coliseum

Aug 4, 2012 - 3:15 PM (Sports Network) - The Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics will have a quick turn around after last night's extra-inning affair when the two squads resume a four-game series at the Coliseum this afternoon.

Coco Crisp's sacrifice fly brought in Jemile Weeks, who led of the inning with a triple, in the bottom of the 15th to give the A's a 5-4 victory Friday night. It was the 13th walk-off win of the season for the A's.

Travis Blackley pitched three scoreless innings to pick up the win for Oakland, which used seven pitchers in the contest.

Oakland led the game, 4-1, going into the ninth inning thanks to a pair of solo home runs from Jonny Gomes and Chris Carter. However, in the ninth Toronto's Jeff Mathis launched a three-run home run that tied the game and after a scoreless bottom of the frame sent the game to extra innings.

Taking the loss for Toronto was Aaron Loup, who was one of six pitchers used by the Blue Jays in the loss which extends the teams season-long losing streak to six games.

Oakland, meanwhile, has won back-to-back games and continues to hold onto it's lead in the AL Wild Card standings.

One of the biggest reasons for Oakland's hot summer has been the pitching of rookie A.J. Griffin, who starts on Saturday afternoon.

The former 13th-round draft pick is 3-0 with a 2.51 ERA in seven starts this season. His 0.98 WHIP and 3.5 K/BB ratio are also impressive, despite the small sample size. Even more importantly, the Athletics are 6-1 in games that Griffin has started.

The 24-year-old had a solid outing in his last start. He allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings of work while striking out six. It was the longest start of his short career and was also the second-highest strikeout total he has recorded this season.

The previous start for Griffin came at home, where he is 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA on the season in four starts. On the road he has done better with a 2-0 mark and 1.50 ERA in three starts.

Griffin has some experience already against Toronto early on in his career. In the start before his last, Griffin pitched six shutout innings and surrendered just three hits while striking out a career-high nine batters against this same Blue Jays club.

On the other side will be Ricky Romero. The ace of the Blue Jays staff in 2011 has had a disastrous 2012 campaign highlighted by a morbid streak he will try to put a stop to on Saturday.

The former 17-game winner has lost seven straight starts entering Saturday's game -- the longest such streak by a Blue Jays pitcher since Josh Towers also lost seven straight in 2006.

Although he didn't pitch particularly well in his last time out, it was a marked improvement from the start before. Romero allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits while striking out seven in six innings of work.

In the start before that, which coincidentally came against the same Oakland club he will face Saturday, Romero was blasted for eight runs on four hits and six walks in just 1 1/3 innings of work. It is the fourth time during his seven-start losing streak he has allowed six or more runs.

The struggles are even more pronounced when examining Romero's season totals. He is currently 8-8 on the season with a 5.69 ERA and 1.57 WHIP. Romero also currently leads the league in earned runs allowed at 82.

The difficult outing Romero suffered his last time out against Oakland was much different from when he faced them in May. Romero allowed just two runs over six innings of work while tying a season-high with seven strikeouts. In his career, Oakland has normally been an opponent he can handle. He is 4-1 with a 3.30 ERA in seven career starts against the Athletics.

Also positive news is the change in the month. Romero has excelled in his career in August where he is 10-3 with a 3.60 ERA in 18 career starts. The 10 wins make it the only month in which he has accumulated a double-digit win total so far in his career.

Oakland has won five of the seven matchups between these teams this season.