A’s turn it around on Dodgers, win 5-4

So the score was 5-4 again tonight, the second such score in a row, but the A’s took home the victory this time. Hiroki Kuroda — winless since Opening Day — was mediocre in his six innings of work, and the Dodgers produced only one run not aided by Oakland’s three errors.

Oakland starter Trevor Cahill wasn’t brilliant, struggling a bit with his control and reminding some of Chad Billingsley circa 2006 in his 5 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers had a chance to come back in the ninth, with Rafael Furcal at first and no out with A’s closer Andrew Bailey on the mound, but Orlando Hudson and James Loney quickly popped out and Casey Blake grounded into a force play.

Russell Martin’s slide has continued, as the 26-year-old catcher has slumped to a .236 with zero home runs and a .625 OPS. His .278 slugging percentage is the third worst of any major leaguer with at least 200 at-bats, and although his .347 OBP is still better than the league average, the extreme lack of power is a bit worrisome.

Matt Kemp went 1-for-3 and stole two bases off the Cahill-Kurt Suzuki battery. The Dodgers’ Randy Wolf and A’s phenom Vin Mazzaro start tomorrow. Mazzaro had pitched 17 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings to begin his career before the Giants scored three runs off of him last Friday. Still, the 22-year-old righthander has a 1.37 ERA and a 2-1 record thus far.