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Eveland helps A's maintain dominance of Giants

Jun 28, 2008 - 7:01 AM By Al Barba PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- The interleague series between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants is suddenly becoming baseball's version of the movie "Groundhog Day".

The two teams renewed their rivalry again on Friday night at McAfee Coliseum and the result was a familiar one as Oakland defeated San Francisco, 4-1, to extend its winning streak over its cross-town rival to seven games.

Dana Eveland (6-5) pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run and five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. With the win, the Athletics have claimed 10 of 11 and 15 of their last 19 from their rival across the bay.

"I've always had a rivalry my whole life with the Giants," said Eveland, who grew up in Los Angeles. "I grew up a Dodgers fan. I've never been a Giants fan. Being with the A's and part of this organization, we do have a rivalry with the Giants. They're our cross-town rivals. I just kind of grew into that."

It marked the second time in the span of 12 days that Eveland defeated the Giants. The Oakland lefthander faced San Francisco at AT&T Park on June 15 and was the winning pitcher after allowing six hits, one run, walking three and striking out five in 6 2/3 innings.

"I had to pitch inside a little more today just because the wind was blowing a little differently than in their ballpark," Eveland said. "They had a couple of guys in their lineup that can go out the other way if I (left) a pitch up.

"I changed up my sequence against certain guys just because I pitched against them a week ago and I tried not to go out there and throw the same stuff. I threw the same kind of pitches, just in different orders."

Brad Ziegler set down each of the two batters he faced to close out the eighth before closer Huston Street pitched a scoreless ninth to record his 15th save of the season.

"Another quality start against us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's what happened tonight. He (Eveland) pitched well. We took a lead there but couldn't add on. (Keiichi) Yabu struggled again. He's out of sync right now but we just ran into a well-pitched game."

Eveland and Giants starter Kevin Correia each allowed a run over the first five innings before Oakland broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the sixth against the San Francisco bullpen.

Keiichi Yabu (3-4) relieved Correia to begin the sixth and had his third consecutive rough outing as he gave up base hits to the only three batters he faced.

Bobby Crosby opened the inning with a single, Gonzalez followed with his second double of the game and Emil Brown singled to score Crosby put the Athletics ahead, 2-1.

Gonzalez scored on a sacrifice fly ball by Jack Hannahan and Daric Barton singled to right field against Alex Hinshaw to drive in Brown with the final run of the inning, increasing the Athletics lead to 4-1.

The outing by Yabu marked the third straight appearance in which he failed to retire a batter. The Giants reliever has surrendered eight consecutive hits and seven runs over three appearances against Kansas City, Cleveland and Oakland.

"He's just not locating like he was," Bochy said. "He's leaving too many pitches up over the middle of the plate."