The Oakland A’s today acquired outfielder Jack Cust from the San Diego Padres organization for a player to be named later or cash considerations in a minor league trade.

Cust was batting .295 with eight home runs and 19 RBI in 24 games for Portland, the Padres Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League.  He also had 19 walks for a .429 on-base percentage.  Cust’s eight home runs are tied for the PCL lead and are tied for fifth most in all of minor league baseball.  He also ranks second in the PCL in slugging (.692) and tied for second in extra base hits (15).  Cust has three two-homer games this year: April 14 against Fresno, April 20 against Sacramento and April 23 at Colorado Springs.

Barry Bonds is carrying the Giants once again. On Wednesday he homered and drove in four.

• Alfonso Soriano doubled, homered and drove in 3 runs, and Derrek Lee went 4-for-5 as the Cubs beat the Pirates, 8-6, in the completion of Tuesday’s suspended game. Jacque Jones also doubled, homered, walked twice, and scored twice for Chicago. Freddy Sanchez had 3 hits for Pittsburgh.
• In the regularly scheduled game Wednesday, Alfonso Soriano doubled and homered again, and Ryan Theriot went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored. Jason Marquis picked up the win, allowing just one run on 4 hits over 8 innings.
• Gary Sheffield went 4-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBI, and Nate Robertson pitched a solid game to lead the Tigers to their 4th straight win, a 3-2 victory over the Orioles. Baltimore has now lost 4 in a row.
• Carlos Villanueva and Matt Wise pitched 6 scoreless innings in relief of the injured Chris Capuano (right calf contusion - day to day.), and Milwaukee made the most of its 4 hits as the Brewers swept away the Cardinals with a 4-0 victory. Albert Pujols had 3 of the 5 hits for St. Louis.
• Oliver Perez allowed just one earned run and struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings. He also contributed offensively with 2 hits and 2 runs to help the Mets salvage the third game of the series against the Marlins, 6-3.
• Mark Hendrickson allowed 3 hits over 6 scoreless innings to just barely edge out Arizona’s Doug Davis, as the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks, 2-1. Davis did not allow an earned run over 7 innings. He gave up 5 hits and struck out 7.
• Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Guillen each homered, and Miguel Batista provided a quality outing on the hill for Seattle as the Mariners downed the White Sox, 3-2.
• David Ortiz reached base 3 times, and Josh Beckett pitched well enough to record his 6th win of the season as the Red Sox defeated the Athletics, 6-4.
• Travis Hafner blooped an RBI double in the 11th inning to break a 6-6 tie and give the Indians a 7-6 walk-off win over the Blue Jays. Jhonny Peralta had 3 hits, homered, and drove in 3 runs, and Ryan Garko had 2 hits, hit a home run, scored twice and had 2 RBI for Cleveland. Vernon Wells and Frank Thomas each had 3 hits for Toronto.
• Tampa Bay scored twice in the 9th inning to tie the game and once in the 10th to give the Devil Rays a 5-4 win over the Twins. Carl Crawford and Ty Wigginton each had 3 hits, and Jae Seo pitched 6 strong innings for Tampa Bay. For Minnesota, Torii Hunter finished with 3 hits, including a 2-run home run, and Boof Bonser allowed just one run on 6 hits in 6 innings.
• Edgar Renteria and Willie Harris each had 2 hits, and Chipper Jones came through with a 2-run double that proved to be the difference in the game as the Braves topped the Phillies, 4-3. Ryan Howard hit his 4th home run of the year for Philadelphia. It was a 3-run shot off of Atlanta’s Chuck James in the 6th inning that, at the time, tied the score at 3.
• Roy Oswalt allowed just one run on 4 hits over 8 innings to propel the Astros past the Reds, 3-1. Carlos Lee had 3 hits in the win for Houston.
• Esteban German hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 7th inning to rally the Royals to a 3-1 win over the Angels. Five Kansas City batters had 2 hits, including German and everybody’s favorite shortstop, Tony Pena Jr. Jorge De La Rosa pitched 7 strong innings, giving up just one run on 5 hits en route to his 3rd victory of the year.
• It took 6 San Diego pitchers, but the well fortified pitching staff allowed just 3 runs on 7 hits as the Padres beat the Nationals, 7-3. Marcus Giles had 2 hits and was one of 6 San Diego players to drive in runs. Adrian Gonzalez hit his 8th home run for the Friars.
• Barry Bonds hit his 743rd career home run and drove in 2 runs in the 8th inning to rally the Giants to a 5-3 win over the Rockies. Bonds finished with 4 RBI on the evening. Randy Winn contributed 3 hits and Barry Zito allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 innings for San Francisco.  

BDD Player of the Day – Kansas City’s Jorge De La Rosa