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Guthrie pitches Orioles past Athletics

Jul 23, 2007 - 12:29 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Jeremy Guthrie won the duel.

Guthrie pitched seven scoreless innings and Kevin Millar's RBI single proved decisive as the Baltimore Orioles posted a 2-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

Guthrie (6-3), who played college baseball at nearby Stanford, yielded just two hits while striking out six.

"I would rather have a 7-0 nothing game than a 1-0 game," Guthrie said. "(A's starter Dallas) Braden had everything working for him as well. I knew is was going to be a close game so I just tried not to lose focus and throw strikes. We got a couple of big hits and that proved to be the difference."

The righthander, who suffered his first career loss against Oakland on April 24, has been stellar on the road this season, posting a 4-0 record with a 1.79 ERA.

"Guthrie, I hate to use the expression 'lights out' but that's what he was," Athletics manager Bob Geren said. "He hit the corners perfectly and had a good fastball and slider. He didn't throw too many balls over the plate. He worked the corners really well."

Chad Bradford worked a scoreless eighth before Jamie Walker finished up in the ninth for his first save.

Braden (1-5), who was promoted from Class AAA Sacramento on Monday, was making his sixth start in his second stint with Oakland and nearly matched Guthrie's outing while suffering the hard-luck loss.

"I think anytime someone else does well, it gives you a boost of confidence," Braden said. "I'm not worried about myself though, I just want to help the team do what we want to do as a collective unit, which is to win games."

The lefthander yielded one run and four hits while striking out three and walking four in a career-high seven innings. It was Braden's fifth consecutive defeat, which is the longest losing streak by an Oakland starter this year.

"Dallas did a real nice job today," Geren said. "He had all of his pitches working and when he got in trouble, he got out of it. Since he's come up to our team, I really like what he's done."

Baltimore scored first in the sixth inning when Brian Roberts drew a lead walk, moved to second on Corey Patterson's sacrifice bunt and to third on an infield groundout. Millar then lined a single to right field for a 1-0 edge.

"It was a good pitch, but you have to tip your cap to him," Braden said. "It was down and away and he reached out and got it. He's a professional hitter."

"It was a big series for us," Millar said. "Today we were just grinding out there trying to get something going. Braden pitched great, but we were finally able to put together something in the sixth and that was enough."

Former Athletic Jay Payton added an RBI single to plate Nick Markakis in the ninth off reliever Andrew Brown for a 2-0 advantage.

The Athletics have lost 11 of their last 13 games and and trail the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by 11 1/2 games in the American League West Division.

Oakland has dropped five consecutive series, which is its most since losing seven in a row from April 30-May 23, 2002.

Baltimore threatened in the first when Roberts walked to lead off the game and Patterson singled to right field. Braden rebounded to strike out Markakis, Millar and Ramon Hernandez to end the threat.