The San Francisco Giants had an offensive explosion on Sunday, scoring 11 runs at the expense of the Oakland A’s. Joe Blanton got the start for Oakland, and didn’t fare well at all. He was only able to pitch through 4 laborious innings (He’d thrown 78 pitches), and was shelled for eight hits and seven earned runs. This was a continuation of a very poor season for Blanton, as he’s now 4-11.

“It’s kind of hard not to be frustrated,” Blanton said. “It was just another standard day for me. I felt well going out but the numbers looked like crap by the end of the day. It’s like it’s over before you know it. That’s how it’s been this season for me.”

The A’s weren’t able to recover from Blanton’s performance. The next two pitchers for Oakland, Andrew Brown and Santiago Casilla, combined to give up four runs over the next four innings. The bad pitching affected the A’s offense. After a Jack Cust home run in the 2nd inning, the A’s didn’t score again for the rest of the game. After the second inning, only three other hits were recorded for Oakland.

“We know they’ve beaten us up the past couple of years,” Giants veteran Rich Aurilia said. “We’re just trying to win games. It doesn’t matter who we play. Every time we play the A’s they throw a good pitcher at us; and the guys in the bullpen are good too. The key today was getting five two-out hits in a row that one inning. That’s something you want to build off.”

The Giants offense in the 4th and 5th innings came as a result of singles from Rich Aurilia, Jose Castillo, and doubles off the bat of Bengie Molina, Aaron Rowand, Ray Durham and John Bowker.

“Key hits, that’s what it takes,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “It all starts on the mound and we just got things rolling.”