The A's offseason plans finally matched up with the team's performance Thursday.
During the winter, the A's beefed up the lineup -- which had the lowest average and scored the fewest runs in the league last year -- by adding Matt Holliday, Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera and Nomar Garciaparra. The idea was to improve the offense in order give young pitchers such as Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson some room for error. The A's non-scoring trend has spun right into this season, however, with the team again at the bottom of the league in runs and average. Cahill and Anderson, the prized 21-year-old rookies, were getting fewer than three runs per game in run support.
On Thursday, however, Jack Cust hit a grand slam in the fourth inning, Holliday added a three-run homer the following inning, and the A's finished with a season-high nine runs.
That was enough for Cahill to nail down his first big-league win. He also helped himself by not walking a batter in seven innings. He was the first A's starter in 14 games to go more than six innings.
A'S 9, RANGERS 4: Trevor Cahill earned his first big-league victory Thursday after getting more than three runs in support for the first time. Jack Cust hit the second grand slam of his career to begin the A's scoring in the fourth inning against Brandon McCarthy. Matt Holliday hit his fourth homer in 12 games.
