Blue Jays 5, A's 0
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Left-hander Mark Buehrle pitched seven shutout innings Tuesday night, extending his scoreless streak to 20 innings and leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-0 victory over the Oakland A's.
Buehrle (7-7) allowed just five hits, all singles, struck out two and didn't walk a batter.
Buehrle's streak began two starts ago when he took the loss against Tampa Bay but finished his stint with four scoreless innings. Then on Thursday he fired a two-hit shutout against the Houston Astros, striking out nine, his most in a game since a career-high 12 in 2005 against Seattle.
Blue Jays reliever Steve Delabar threw a perfect eighth, striking out the side on nine pitches, and Darren Oliver pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Blue Jays' powerful offense gave Buehrle more than enough support. Jose Bautista hit a solo shot in the first inning, his 25th homer of the season. Emilio Bonifacio added a solo homer in the fifth when the Blue Jays scored three times to take a 5-0 lead.
A's right-hander Dan Straily (6-5) suffered his career-high third straight loss, allowing five runs on six hits and lasting just 4 2/3 innings. But only two of those runs were earned as left fielder Yoenis Cespedes and shortstop Adam Rosales each committed a costly error during Straily's outing.
Coming into the game, Buehrle was 6-13 in his career against the A's, but he had won his past two starts against Oakland and allowed just six earned runs over his previous 21 1/3 innings, all in 2011.
During the game, the A's announced they had acquired infielder Alberto Callaspo from the Los Angeles Angels in a trade for minor-league infielder Grant Green, a former No. 1 draft pick. Callaspo, 30, is a lifetime .273 hitter in eight major-league seasons. He has played exclusively at third base this year but has played second base, shortstop and the outfield during his career.
The Blue Jays grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Bautista's two-out home run to left. With a 1-1 count, Straily threw a changeup, and Bautista hammered it for his 25th homer of the season.
Toronto increased its lead to 2-0 in the fourth. First baseman Edwin Encarnacion singled to right with two outs and moved to second on Adam Lind's single. Encarnacion scored when Colby Rasmus singled sharply and Cespedes booted the ball for an error.
The Blue Jays struck for three more runs in the fifth, taking a 5-0 lead. Bonafacio, the No. 9 hitter, lined a leadoff home run off Straily into the right-field seats. After Jose Reyes walked, Straily got Maicer Izturis to hit a potential double-play ground ball to Rosales, but Rosales threw the ball into right field for an error and Reyes scored, making it 4-0. Rasmus brought Izturis home with a single to right.
NOTES: A's LHP Brett Anderson (right foot stress fracture, sprained right ankle), who has been on the disabled list since May 1, threw another extended bullpen session Tuesday. "Very good," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Anderson's session. "It's been encouraging to see. He's done a lot of work to keep his arm in shape, and it shows right now. A little bit more worried about the foot, but at this point have no issues with it at all, and really got after it today. I think it was 57 total (pitches) and maybe the last 25 or so (first baseman) Nate Freiman stood in. He threw like he was throwing to hitters, and to this point everything's going very well." Anderson also ran in the outfield after throwing. He'll likely pitch a simulated game Friday. ... Blue Jays LF Melky Cabrera was out of the starting lineup to rest his sore legs. Bonifacio started in left. ... Thanks to a scoring change from Monday night's game, A's 2B Eric Sogard's hitting streak is alive at eight games. A first-inning error charged to Encarnacion on a Sogard ground ball was changed to a hit.
