Athletics smack five homers in blowout of Twins

Jack Cust hit one of the Oakland Athletics' five home runs and Clayton Mortensen earned his first major league victory Friday night, 12-5 over the Minnesota Twins.

With each Oakland drive that soared over the outfield wall at the Metrodome on Friday, Clayton Mortensen felt a little more comfortable. That comfort translated into the first major-league victory for one of the A's top pitching prospects. Mortensen,...

Q's with A's: Clayton Mortensen

We've already delved into the pool of 2010 free agent starters a few times here on MLBTR, but let's dig deeper and discuss just one of the arms: Oakland's Justin Duchscherer.Duchscherer, a longtime reliever, burst onto the MLB scene in 2008 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.00 WHIP over 22 starts.  He doesn't throw hard, and never really has, but his slider and curveball are excellent out pitches...

After hitting five home runs Friday night, the Oakland Athletics find themselves tied with the Kansas City Royals for fewest home runs hit in the American League. What’s interesting about that is they’ve delivered quite a few high home run games. The following table shows the American League teams with the most games [...]

On deck:at MinnesotaPITCHING MATCHUPS TODAY: A's Clayton Mortensen (0-2, 9.00 ERA) vs. Twins' Nick Blackburn (9-10, 4.16); 5:10 p.m. TV: CSNCA. Radio: 860-AM, 1640-AM SATURDAY: Brett Anderson (8-10, 4.