NewsPower surge backs Braden in finale
Cust, Giambi help A's take series with two-run homers
By Mychael Urban / MLB.com
07/01/09 7:39 PM ET
OAKLAND -- A's manager Bob Geren gave his struggling home run leader the option of taking a mental breather Tuesday night, with the assurance that he'd be right back in the lineup Wednesday.Knowing that the American League Central-leading Tigers were planning to start probable 2009 All-Star Justin Verlander on Wednesday, Cust, who'd been overthinking at the plate and struggling with his timing, talked his way into Tuesday's lineup.
"I'd like to get my timing down against someone else," Cust explained with a smile Wednesday.
The smile came easy after Cust, who established a modicum of momentum with an RBI single and a pair of walks the night before, belted a two-run homer that held up as the game-winner in Oakland's 5-1 victory in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Jason Giambi, stuck in a nasty little rut of his own heading into Wednesday, also hit a two-run homer in support of Dallas Braden, who entered the game with the worst run support in the AL.
"When G's ball went out, I was like, 'Four runs? Oh yeah, this one's in the bag,'" joked Braden, who had received one run of backing or less in nine of his 16 starts.
Braden responded to Wednesday's relative largesse with seven innings of five-hit work.
"It feels good, especially knowing you beat one of the best pitchers in the game," Braden said. "It's a big shot in the arm for our offense."
Bigger still when you consider what Verlander, who was looking for his ninth win of the year, had to say about the offerings that Cust and Giambi took deep.
"I went back and watched some of the tape," Verlander said. "The two pitches that hurt me weren't that bad."
The Tigers opened the scoring in the second inning on an RBI double by Gerald Laird, setting something of an unsettling tone in Braden's colorful mind.
"What did I give up, five hits?" Braden asked. "Seven of them were doubles, I think."
Actually, only four of them -- and the final three were neutralized by the effectiveness of Braden's cut fastball.
Adam Everett was stranded at third base in the second inning, Don Kelly was left at second in the fifth, and Miguel Cabrera was left at second in the sixth before Braden finished with a flourish, ripping through a perfect seventh that ended with a strikeout of Kelly.
"He went in and out, he changed speeds, he pitched very well," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said of Braden, who walked one and struck out three while lowering his ERA to 3.13.
In addition to getting their big boys going, the A's got exceptional work from their defense and bullpen, and Kurt Suzuki's late RBI double made things that much easier.
"Just a real solid 27-out performance by everyone," Geren said. "[The Tigers] have a very good team, and they were throwing their best pitcher at us today. ... A real well-played game, all the way around."
Added Braden: "It was the epitome of a team effort."
Cust, who typically hits in the indoor cage when batting practice is optional before day games, hit on the field Wednesday morning to continue tinkering with his swing. He struck out in his first at-bat, but the extra work paid off after Verlander gave up a two-out single to Ryan Sweeney in the fourth inning.
Cust went the other way, into the left-field bleachers, for his 14th home run of the year.
"It was nice to get Dallas some runs," said Cust, who entered the game in a 4-for-24 jag that had dropped his batting average to .224, the fourth-worst mark in the AL. "G's homer was big, too. Against that team, you need as much cushion as you can get."
As bad as Cust had been, Giambi had been worse; his 2-for-26 slide over the past nine games had dropped his batting average to an AL-low .197.
But Giambi, who has complained of sore legs of late, made it 4-1 with a blast to right field off Verlander after a leadoff infield single by Matt Holliday in the sixth.
"He literally was just trying to be a team player there and move the runner over," Geren said. "But he got something [out over the plate] and got into it."
After righty reliever Brad Ziegler worked a scoreless top of the eighth, Bobby Crosby, who subbed in for Giambi at first base in the seventh, singled and scored on Suzuki's double in the bottom of the eighth.
That provided extra breathing room for rookie righty Andrew Bailey, who shrugged off a leadoff walk by striking out the next three batters to close out Oakland's first home series victory since they swept the Orioles in early June.
"Any victory is big," Cust said. "But winning series is what you shoot for, and we haven't been winning many lately."
Mychael Urban is a national writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
