Nifty at 50: A's rout White Sox on anniversary

OAKLAND -- The A's know how to throw a party.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary with a lively group of fans who were treated to a free game at the Coliseum, the A's kept them entertained from beginning to end, lighting up the scoreboard in a 10-2 drubbing of the White Sox on Tuesday night.
"It was loud," A's manager Bob Melvin said of the crowd of 46,028. "It looked like the place was packed. That was the objective, and I really wanted to put on a good show for them, and our guys did, right away. It was great to score some runs early on and get the crowd into it. When they get into it, they have a lot of fun."
Winners of three straight for the first time this season, the A's have totaled at least eight runs in three of their last four games, their lineup doing drastic damage to complement a starting staff that, finally, is finding stability.
Trevor Cahill, fittingly, was on the mound for this throwback scene, which featured the A's and White Sox adorned in their 1968 uniforms. Making his first start for Oakland since 2011, Cahill twirled seven shutout innings and struck out eight in his season debut.

A's starters have held the opposition to just two earned runs across 22 1/3 innings during this three-game streak, which has Oakland sitting at 8-10.
"It felt really good," Cahill said. "A little bit more nerves than the normal first time taking the ball in the big leagues. The first one's always a little bit more nerve-wracking, but I think the offense kind of helped me out, kind of got me to relax and go out there and fill up the zone."
Cahill turned back the clock and took to the mound to "White Rabbit," the same tune that accompanied him during his first stint with the A's, who reunited with the righty on a one-year deal in late March.
He was the benefactor of a bevy of run support: The offense went to work early, getting a two-out solo homer from a red-hot Jed Lowrie in the first that ignited a five-run inning. Khris Davis doubled, Matt Olson reached on a soft infield single, Matt Chapman walked, and Mark Canha and Stephen Piscotty teamed up to drive in two runs apiece.

The A's were at it again in the fourth, knocking White Sox starter Miguel González out of the game following three straight hits from Canha, Piscotty and Jonathan Lucroy, who notched a two-run single. Matt Joyce kept it going with a double, and Marcus Semien, the lone A's starter to not reach base, did his part with a sacrifice fly. Canha and Lucroy picked up their third hits of the night in a two-run seventh.
"We're swinging the bats good," Melvin said. "We always felt like we had a good offensive club. It's about sustaining it. We're playing a little better right now all the way across the board, too. We put ourselves behind the eight-ball a little bit early on with the record, so hopefully we can play a little bit better and win a few more games."

ANYTHING BUT DULL
A's reliever Ryan Dull, who was activated from the disabled list Saturday after rehabbing a shoulder strain, had quite the strange season debut. Dull recorded four strikeouts, yet also allowed two runs in the eighth. Omar Narváez reached on a strikeout-wild pitch to christen the inning, and Yoán Moncada followed with a two-run homer, before Dull settled down to strike out his final three batters.
• Pitchers with four strikeouts in one inning
"I said, 'How many guys do you have to strike out to get out of an inning?'" Melvin said. "We've seen him. He's got a really sharp slider and he spots his fastball really well. I needed to get him in a game today. It'd been four days and we don't want him to go too long without pitching. Four strikeouts in one inning's pretty good."

SOUND SMART
Before Tuesday's five-run showing in the first inning, the A's had scored a total of seven runs in the first inning in their previous 17 games.
"That was a lot of fun," Canha said. "It was a fun game to be a part of."

TRIVINO DEBUTS
Right-hander Lou Trivino, the club's No. 27 prospect, who was promoted ahead of Tuesday's game, saw action in the ninth inning, collecting two strikeouts to work out of a jam, stranding two to end the game.
"Unless you've done that before, your first big league game's an out-of-body experience, it really is," Melvin said. "And then you get some baserunners out there and it's like, boy, you really have to settle yourself down. His stuff's going to play. If he throws the ball over the plate he's going to have some success and can throw one of his breaking pitches maybe behind in the count. He's got great movement on the fastball at a very high velocity. We think very highly of him."

HE SAID IT
"He came out of the game, and I told him, 'Well that's a lot better than that game you pitched my first game in Chicago my first game as a manager,' and he got a kick out of that." -- Melvin, on Cahill, who allowed six runs in 2 2/3 innings in Melvin's A's managerial debut against the host White Sox on June 9, 2011
UP NEXT
Right-hander Andrew Triggs will be on the bump for Wednesday's 12:35 p.m. PT series finale against the White Sox, who will counter with right-hander Carson Fulmer (0-1, 5.59 ERA). Triggs allowed no more than two runs while completing at least five innings in his first three starts.