A's romp 8-1 over O's in series finale

The O's wanted to cap off a good homestand with a win and they also had a chance to win back-to-back series for the first time all year. But Trevor Cahill had other thoughts. He shut down the Birds over seven innings as Oakland beat the Orioles 8-1, in front of 15,712 at Camden Yards on Thursday night. The O's went 5-4 on the homestand and now head to Boston. Cahill, now 8-2, 2.74 gave up just one run on four hits over seven innings, throwing 95 pitches. He shut down an Orioles club that had scored 48 runs on the first eight games of the homestand. Cahill is 7-0, 2.12 over his last nine starts. Jake Arrieta took the loss and is now 2-2, 5.81. He gave up 3 ER over six frames. Corey Patterson misplayed Cliff Pennington's fly ball in the second and it went for a key two-run double. Ty Wigginton and Josh Bell made errors in the fifth leading to an unearned run. Bell, called up earlier in the day from Triple-A, went 1 for 4. He singled to left in the seventh on a 2-0 pitch for his first Major League hit. Ryan Sweeney went 4 for 5 with 2 RBI as Oakland won the the 17th time in the last 21 games vs. the Orioles. Friday night in Boston, Brad Bergesen (3-4, 6.83) faces Tim Wakefield (2-6, 5.21) to start a three-game series.