Cust caps A's rally in ninth

Jack Cust finished a memorable week with one more powerful swing.

Cust homered for the fourth straight day and hit his sixth in seven games since joining Oakland, capping a five-run ninth inning with a three-run drive that gave the Athletics a 10-7 home victory over the Cleveland Indians yesterday.

"I'm just trying to take advantage of the opportunity and make a contribution somehow," Cust said.

Cust has done much more than that since being acquired from San Diego May 3 in a little-noticed deal for a player to be named or cash. But with Mike Piazza on the disabled list with an injured shoulder, the A's called up Cust to be their regular designated hitter. His six homers in his first 26 at-bats with the team is an Oakland record.

Cust only got the opportunity because of a rally his teammates put together after Indians closer Joe Borowski (0-2) retired the first two batters in the ninth. Borowski then got in front of Eric Chavez, 0 and 2, before allowing a ground-ball single through the right side.

Milton Bradley then tied the score with his second homer this season, a drive to right.

Dan Johnson and Bobby Crosby followed with consecutive singles that knocked out Borowski, who blew his second save in 14 opportunities this season.

Cust greeted Fernando Cabrera with his first career walkoff homer, and the A's poured out of their dugout to mob him at the plate.

Jay Witasick (1-0) struck out Josh Barfield to end the top of the ninth with two on and got the win.

The Indians broke out to a 5-1 lead in the third against Chad Gaudin, who allowed five runs -- four earned -- and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings, the first time in nine starts this season he's allowed more than three earned runs.

Devil Rays 2, Blue Jays 1 -- Held without a hit for six innings by Shawn Marcum, visiting Tampa Bay took advantage of Toronto's bullpen as Carlos Pena hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh.

Making his first start this year because of injuries to the Blue Jays' rotation, Marcum struck out seven and walked three, leaving after 78 pitches because he was on a pitch count. Jason Frasor (1-2) relieved to start the seventh, and after getting two outs gave up Pena's solo homer. Pena added an RBI single in the ninth off Brian Tallet.

Twins 16, Tigers 4 -- Minnesota totaled 22 hits to bury Detroit at the Metrodome as Torii Hunter went deep twice and drove in seven runs and Michael Cuddyer had a three-run homer among his four RBIs.

Rangers 7, Angels 6 -- Nelson Cruz hit a solo homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth off Scot Shields (0-2) to give Texas its first win of the year over Los Angeles after five straight losses.

Royals 11, White Sox 1 -- David DeJesus (four hits) and Mark Teahen (three-run homer) took care of the offense for Kansas City, and Jorge De La Rosa (4-3) was sharp over seven innings for his first road win of the season.

Mets 9, Brewers 1 -- Oliver Perez (4-3) took a one-hit shutout into the ninth and Damion Easley drove in four runs as New York cruised at home by jumping on Milwaukee's Chris Capuano (5-1).

Giants 15, Rockies 2 -- Rookie Fred Lewis became the 22d player in Giants history to hit for the cycle, going 5 for 6 -- with his first major league homer -- with four RBIs as San Francisco amassed a season-best 22 hits in Denver.

Pirates 13, Braves 2 -- Ian Snell (3-2) limited visiting Atlanta to two runs over seven innings, and Freddy Sanchez had three RBIs as Pittsburgh set season highs for runs and hits (18).

Nationals 6, Marlins 4 -- Meeting less than 12 hours after the Nationals' rain-delayed walkoff victory Saturday night, Washington earned its first three-game sweep of the season as Jason Simontacchi (1-1) picked up his first win in nearly four years.

Padres 3, Cardinals 0 -- San Diego's Justin Germano (1-0) allowed three hits in seven innings for his first win in three years, and two relievers finished off visiting St. Louis, which was shut out for the fourth time in 10 games.

Dodgers 10, Reds 5 -- Rafael Furcal went 4 for 4 with a run-scoring bunt and Juan Pierre singled home the go-ahead run during a five-run eighth that gave host Los Angeles the comeback win.

Astros 5, Diamondbacks 2 -- Winless since last July, Wandy Rodriguez (1-3) was solid for five innings and Brad Ausmus put host Houston ahead to stay with an RBI double in the fourth.

Cubs 4, Phillies 1 -- Ted Lilly (3-2) retired 13 of his first 14 batters for visiting Chicago to win a pitchers' duel with Philadelphia's Jon Lieber (1-2).