Wed Jun 18 01:35:28 2008

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Duchscherer tosses gem in rout of Diamondbacks

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Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Mark Ellis had two of Oakland's six home runs, and Justin Duchscherer threw eight brilliant innings, as the Athletics roughed up Brandon Webb and the Arizona Diamondbacks, 15-1, in the opener of a three- game interleague set.

Duchscherer (7-4) gave up just one run on five hits, walked none and struck out six for the A's, who have won four in a row. The starter's effort lowered his earned run average to 2.08.

The Oakland offense provided more than enough run support. Ellis finished 3- for-4 with four runs batted in, Eric Chavez and Rajai Davis each hit a two-run homer while Kurt Suzuki and Bobby Crosby each smacked a solo shot.

Of the Athletics' 15 hits, 11 were for extra bases as the club equaled a season high in runs scored.

Oakland did it all against Arizona ace Webb (11-3), who lasted just 3 1/3 innings after giving up seven runs on nine hits and five walks.

"Well our offense was the best performance of the year; six homers, five doubles, eight or nine walks, obviously a good recipe to score runs," Oakland manager Bob Geren said. "We're happy to do that when you have a pitcher that's 11-2. Facing him, you wouldn't picture that being the end result. Obviously it's a great day for our offense, doing it against a pitcher of that caliber makes it more special."

It was Webb's shortest outing since a two-inning start on September 17, 2004 against St. Louis. Webb had also not given up seven earned runs since October 1, 2006, his final start of that season, when he went four frames against San Diego.

"He was where he was in April and early May, the velocity was back, the stuff was there," Arizona catcher Chris Snyder said. "It's just one of those nights when you have that good of stuff, that shouldn't happen."

Pitcher Edgar Gonzalez had the lone RBI for Arizona, which lost its third in a row.

Oakland wasted no time in putting runs on the scoreboard. Ellis led off the game with a double, and after a Ryan Sweeney single and Jack Cust walk, Chavez grounded into a double play to put Ellis across home plate. Crosby followed with an RBI double for a 2-0 Oakland edge.

A two-out solo shot from Ellis in the second inning boosted the A's edge to three, and Carlos Gonzalez grounded with runners on the corners in the third to score another run.

In the fourth, though, the Athletics started to pull away. Ellis worked a leadoff walk and Sweeney followed with a double. Cust brought in Ellis with a sacrifice fly, and Chavez smoked a Webb fastball over the fence in left for a 7-0 lead.

That was Webb's last pitch, as Edgar Gonzalez came in and kept Oakland's offense in check. He threw 3 2/3 innings and gave up just one run on one hit, a leadoff homer from Suzuki in the fifth that put the A's ahead by eight.

Arizona put one run across in the home fifth as, with runners on the corners, Edgar Gonzalez hit a grounder to third that allowed Mark Reynolds to score. But Duchscherer regained control and set the Diamondbacks down in order in the sixth and seventh

Davis' RBI single in the eighth plated Sweeney, who had doubled with two outs, for a 9-1 Oakland edge. The team kept piling on runs in the ninth, as Crosby hit a leadoff homer to left, Ellis hammered a three-run shot and Davis slammed a two-run home run to end the scoring.

Game Notes

Arizona had not given up 15 runs all season. The Diamondbacks previous high in runs allowed was 13, on April 13 against Colorado...Oakland previously scored 15 on May 1 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.