Toronto @ Oakland preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 11, 2011 ) Oakland 10, Toronto 3

THE STORY: The Toronto Blue Jays are on a homer binge as they begin a four-game series against the Oakland Athletics. Toronto hit eight homers in a three-game series against Seattle and has 13 over its last five games. The Blue Jays have homered in 11 straight games and have 144 overall, tied for third in the majors with the Texas Rangers. Oakland has the fifth-fewest homers in the majors with 79. Toronto’s Jose Bautista leads all big leaguers with 35 homers and Adam Lind has 22. Josh Willingham leads the Athletics with 20.

TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, RSN (Toronto), CSCA (Oakland).

PITCHING MATCHUP: Blue Jays LH Ricky Romero (11-9, 2.87) vs. Athletics RH Trevor Cahill (9-11, 3.92)

Romero has won four straight starts and has allowed just four runs and 11 hits in 31 1/3 innings during the span. All the runs have come on solo homers. Romero received a no-decision against Oakland in April when he gave up one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings. Overall, Romero is 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA in four career starts against the Athletics. Hideki Matsui is just 2-for-12 against Romero.

Cahill has lost six of his last seven decisions and has just one victory since June 25. He lost to Texas in his last outing when he gave up four runs (three earned) and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. Cahill, who began the season with six straight wins, has a 7.76 ERA over his last five starts. He defeated the Blue Jays in April when he allowed one run and three hits in eight innings. Overall, Cahill is 1-2 with a 5.70 ERA in four career starts against Toronto. Lind is 2-for-11 against Cahill.

ABOUT THE ATHLETICS (55-68): Seven of Oakland’s nine hits on Wednesday were for extra bases. Kurt Suzuki had two homers for his second career multihomer game. Suzuki has 12 homers on the season, three shy of his career high set in 2009. He is 3-for-8 against Romero, a pitcher he caught in college at Cal State Fullerton. Scott Sizemore and Jemile Weeks also had two hits. Weeks is batting .455 in 22 at-bats over the last five games. Brandon Allen tripled for the second straight game and is 8-for-15 in five games for Oakland. Allen was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trading deadline. Conor Jackson (neck) has missed four straight games.

ABOUT THE BLUE JAYS (63-60): Toronto has averaged 7.8 runs while winning four of its last five games. The Blue Jays have hit 23 homers in August and all their runs came on homers in Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over Seattle. Lind hit a three-run homer and Edwin Encarnacion and Colby Rasmus hit solo shots. Lind has three homers and 10 RBIs over his past five games. Encarnacion is batting .388 in August. Rasmus’ homer was his second in 18 games since joining the Blue Jays. Rookie Brett Lawrie went hitless on Wednesday for just the third time in 12 major-league games.

FINAL PITCH: Eleven of Suzuki’s 12 homers have been solo shots. He has 34 RBIs, well below his career-best total of 88 in 2009.