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Barajas, Marcum power Blue Jays past reeling Athletics

Aug 7, 2008 - 4:40 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Gio Gonzalez shook off his expected early first-game jitters and performed like a veteran in the minds of the Toronto Blue Jays. It still wasn't nearly enough to end the Oakland Athletics' long losing streak.

Rod Barajas homered and Shaun Marcum tossed seven strong innings, leading the Blue Jays to a 5-1 victory over the Athletics on Wednesday night.

Marcum (6-5) won for the first time since May 26 - a span of eight starts - after allowing a run and three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

"That was the main thing (locating the fastball) I was struggling with the last three starts," Marcum said. "To go out there, locate that pitch and also work ahead of the count, it felt like every time I looked up, it was a first-pitch strike and I was up 0-1. It makes it a lot easier to pitch that way."

Toronto mounted the majority of its offense against the highly-touted Gonzalez (0-1), who was making his major league debut, in the first as Alex Rios doubled and Lyle Overbay drew a walk with two outs.

Barajas followed with a towering blast into the second deck in left field for his ninth home run of the season.

"He fell behind the count with me," Barajas said. "I was just able to sit on one pitch. He left it where I could do some damage and I took advantage of it."

"Understanding this is the big leagues, sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you get hit the way you don't want to get hit," Gonzalez said. "It was a humbling experience."

One of the Oakland's top prospects who struck 128 batters over 123 innings with Class AAA Sacramento this season - Gonzalez went six innings, allowing four runs and four hits, walking two and striking out four.

"First inning, first pitch, I was just hoping it would be a strike," Gonzalez said. "After that, I was just trying to stay down in the strike zone and pound it."

After the first-inning blast, Gonzalez showed a veteran-like savvy, at least in the mind of Barajas.

"After that (Barajas' homer), when it was a hitter's count, he wasn't just throwing fastballs, he was mixing in his changeup," he said. "He wasn't letting you just sit on one pitch."

Bobby Crosby took advantage of one of Marcum's few mistakes in the sixth, providing the A's only run with his sixth homer of the season.

However, he alone could not help Oakland avoid its ninth straight setback.

"It's very frustrating, we have to get a win," Crosby said. "This isn't too fun, so we have got to pick it up. With guys in scoring position, we've got to get a knocker (base hit) and get it done some way. This is a pretty frustrating time."

The A's threatened in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with no out after a pair of singles from Frank Thomas and rookie Carlos Gonzalez and a walk to Jack Cust.

However, Mark Ellis grounded to shortstop John McDonald, who forced Thomas out at home before contributing to an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play to help Marcum emerge unscathed.

McDonald pushed across the Blue Jays' final run in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring groundout.

Scott Downs and B.J. Ryan each pitched a scoreless inning in relief to preserve the win.