Davis, Cahill help A's pick up win over Detroit

DETROIT (AP) — Rajai Davis scored twice and Trevor Cahill continued to pitch well as the Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1 on Monday.

The win was Oakland's third of the four-game series and fifth out of seven during their ongoing 10-game trip. Detroit has lost five of six.

The start of the game was delayed by 2 hours and 42 minutes due to threatening weather, although no rain fell until more than an hour after the scheduled start. It started to rain again with Detroit batting in the bottom of the eighth, leaving the stadium almost empty by game's end.

Cahill (4-2) won his third straight start, allowing one run on five hits in 6 1-3 innings. He has allowed three runs in 19 innings in his winning streak, an ERA of 1.42.

Andrew Bailey got the final four outs for his 11th save.

Justin Verlander (5-4) took his second straight loss, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk in seven innings. He struck out eight.

Verlander appeared out of rhythm when the game finally began, allowing hits to the first three batters. Davis led off with a single and scored on Daric Barton's double. Barton took third on Ryan Sweeney's single and scored when Kurt Suzuki grounded into a double play.

Detroit nearly got on the board in the fourth, but Gabe Gross threw Brennan Boesch out at the plate to end the inning.

Kevin Kouzmanoff made it 3-0 with an seventh-inning RBI single after taking two curveballs that Verlander obviously thought should have been strike three. Verlander and Tigers manager Jim Leyland argued with home-plate umpire Laz Diaz after the play and again after the innning, though neither was ejected.

Austin Jackson pulled the Tigers within 3-1 with a two-out, pinch-hit single in the seventh, but Johnny Damon flew out to end the inning.

In the eighth, Davis singled, stole second and third, then scored when Sweeney beat out a possible double-play grounder.

NOTES: Oakland pitcher Dallas Braden entertained the fans during the long rain delay with a running dive across the tarp, while Barton borrowed a news photographer's camera to take pictures of the stadium and crowd. ... Because of the weather, the stadium observance of the National Moment of Remebrance at 3 pm came with the fans standing on the concourse, watching the rain. ... Oakland won 16 games in May, the most in that month since going 18-9 in 2001.