The Oakland Athletics (30-23) and San Francisco Giants (28-24) will meet in a Bay Area interleague matchup on Wednesday night at 10:15 p.m. ET. The game will air live on MLB.com with a paid subscription and for free here.
Oakland is a sixth consecutive win entering Wednesday night's game. The A's began the season winning 12 of their first 16 before an 8-18 slide dropped the defending AL West champions below .500. However, Tuesday's win over San Francisco gave Oakland their 10th victory in 11 tries.
Derek Norris hit a two-run homer while Adam Rosales added a solo shot to snap an 0-for-24 slump. Oakland has averaged 6.6 runs during its five-game winning streak.
"We're doing a lot of things right," Norris said. "We're keeping it simple."
The Athletics' pitching staff has posted a solid 2.39 ERA over its last 11 contests, far better than how Giants starter Tim Linecum (3-4) has throw as of late. Linceum's inconsistency over the past two seasons remains extremely puzzling given the past success of the two-time Cy Young Award winner. He had a career-worst 5.18 ERA in 2012 and is just 3-4 with a 4.75 ERA this season.
Each of his wins this season have come when he didn't allow an earned run, though he's followed up each by struggling in multiple outings.
After allowing two hits in seven scoreless innings of a 5-1 win over Atlanta on May 12, Lincecum allowed six runs in five innings of a 10-2 defeat at Colorado on May 18 before Friday's 5-0 loss to the Rockies in which he gave up four runs in seven innings.
"I just have to stop making mistakes up in the zone," Lincecum said. "If I miss with my spots they have to be down or away. But things are right in the middle of the plate, hanging sliders, fastballs that aren't supposed to be where they are."
Lincecum will be matched against Tommy Milone (4-5). Milone ended a five-start skid by giving up one run in six innings of a 2-1 win over Kansas City on May 18, but he allowed five runs - all in the fifth - in seven innings before Oakland rallied to beat Houston 6-5 on Friday.
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