After being shut out on just three hits in Monday's opener, the A's broke through for 16 hits Tuesday. They hardly pounded the ball 12 of their 16 hits were singles but it was still a welcome rebound effort as they chalked up win No. 1 for 2009.

They took the lead for good with two runs in the seventh.

Eric Chavez's bases-loaded fielder's choice broke a 3-3 tie, and Jack Cust followed with a bloop single to center to score Jason Giambi and make it 5-3.

Cust was 3-for-5 with two RBI, his offensive night making up for a dropped fly in right field that led to an Angels run.

Giambi's RBI double down the left-line in the eighth added an insurance run. He finished 3-for-5, and moved past Jose Canseco for 10th place on Oakland's all-time hits list (1,052).

Brad Ziegler allowed a harmless run in the ninth and nailed down the save, part of an impressive four innings from the A's bullpen.

Cahill in the majors after starting last season at Single-A and making just six starts at Double-A battled some command problems early. He gave up a run in each of the first two innings, and stranded runners on second and third in the third.

But the 21-year-old settled in after that. He left after five innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits. He walked five and struck out one.

Trailing 2-0, the A's broke through for three runs in the top of the fourth. With one out, Cust smoked a single off the right-field wall to score Nomar Garciaparra from second for the A's first run of 2009.

Kurt Suzuki followed with a single to right-center to put runners on the corners, and Travis Buck tied the game with an RBI grounder to first. Mark Ellis' single up the middle scored Suzuki to put the A's up 3-2.

Given a lead, Cahill came out in the bottom of the fourth and kept the Angels off the board despite two walks.

The Angels tied the game in the fifth, an inning that started with Cust dropping a shallow fly off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero, allowing Guerrero to reach second.

Cahill then made an alert play, fielding Torii Hunter's comebacker and catching Guerrero in a rundown. Hunter would make it to second base on the play, however, and score the tying run when Kendry Morales lined a single to center.

At 21 years and 37 days old, Cahill became the seventh-youngest pitcher to start a game in Oakland history.

According to Baseball-reference.com, he was just the 16th pitcher since 1954 to make his big league debut in one of the first two games of the season.

The A's were without cleanup man Matt Holliday, who was sick. Holliday was feeling ill in Monday's opener, according to manager BobGeren. After a day of rest, Geren was hopeful Holliday could return tonight.

A's 6, Angels 4 ?Today: at Los Angeles, 7:05 p.m. ?TV: CSNCA