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BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Orioles have confidence that Kevin Gausman eventually will emerge as a top-of-the-rotation starter. On Saturday, they saw a glimpse of that ability against Oakland. Gausman earned his first win as a starter while Adam Jones and David Lough each homered, leading the Orioles over the Athletics, 6-3. Called up from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day, Gausman (1-1) set career highs by pitching seven innings and striking out six. Gausman, the fourth overall pick in the 2012 draft, gave up one run and four hits and walked one. He had made six previous starts in the majors over two seasons. "Its always huge when you get a win, especially against a team like the As," Gausman said. "Theyre playing great baseball right now. Its been a fun serious to watch so far. Hopefully, we can win the series tomorrow." Jones hit his ninth homer, a solo shot in the first. Lough, who entered the game batting just .184, hit his second homer. Still, Jones said the difference in the game was how Gausman contained Oaklands powerful lineup. "Hes getting the opportunity," Jones said. "This game is all about confidence. Its not about necessarily about stuff. Your stuff will get you here, but your confidence. "Now hes going to get his shot to start. I told him, Hey, go after him. Use your stuff. Youve got a good arm for a reason, so use your stuff and go after them. " Sonny Gray (6-2) allowed a season-high five runs and four hits and four walks in 5 1-3 innings, his shortest outing of the year. "I felt really good there early in the game, then it was like four or five hitters, and the game just kind of blew up on me right there," Gray said. "I just went out and started throwing balls, and I dont know why. I got behind a lot of hitters that inning, and it was just too many balls, then that one big hit." Coco Crisp got three hits for Oakland. He connected in the third for his fourth home run, and extended his hitting streak to a season-high 11 games. It was 1-all before Baltimore scored three times in the fifth to give Gausman a cushion. Lough drew a one-out walk and Caleb Joseph followed with a double, setting up RBI singles by Nick Markakis and Manny Machado. The As threatened in the sixth when Alberto Callaspo and Eric Sogard led off with singles and advanced on a wild pitch. Gausman escaped by striking out Josh Donaldson and Brandon Moss. "Kevin was good, really good," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Got his feet on the ground. I thought Caleb and him worked real well together. I wanted Caleb catching him today. He had caught him, obviously, in Norfolk. "Good split, got enough breaking balls over to show a third pitch, established the inner half of the plate. Hes got pretty good stuff. He got in a couple situations and went and got another level, which was good to see." After a walk to J.J. Hardy ended Grays night, former Orioles closer Jim Johnson entered and allowed a two-run homer to Lough on his second pitch that extended Baltimores lead 6-1. Johnson got only two outs, allowing two hits. The As pulled within 6-3 in the eighth when Brian Matusz allowed a walk to Sogard and a double to Crisp. Darren ODay entered and gave up a two-run single to Kyle Blanks. "He pitched pretty well," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said about Gausman. "He hit 99 (miles per hour), and he started mixing it up and pitching a little differently. His two-seamer was significantly different from his four-seamer, in terms of velocity and movement. Then he started throwing his slider for a strike and putting away some splits." NOTES: Orioles RHP Miguel Gonzalez (strained right oblique) will throw a bullpen session Sunday or Monday and then could possibly begin a rehab start later in the week. ... Baltimore optioned LHP Tim Berry to Double-A Bowie to make room for Gausman. ... Oakland has homered in 15 consecutive games, eight games shy of the club record. . ... Oakland LHP Scott Kazmir (6-2, 2.40 ERA) faces Orioles RHP Ubaldo Jimenez (2-6, 4.39) in the series finale. ... Johnson faced his former team for the first time and drew a mixed reaction from the sold-out crowd. Ecco Shoes Online Sale .ca. Mr. Fraser, It looks like Martin Brodeur is coming back to play for the Blues. I was wondering if you have any great stories or fond memories of your time on the ice with Brodeur - in the NHL, or maybe even the Olympics. Ecco Shoes Sale Outlet . The Giants chances of winning the division were dealt a serious blow by the three-game sweep at the hands of the lowly Padres. The Giants open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. San Francisco is still in good shape to clinch a wild-card berth, although it dropped into a tie with Pittsburgh in the race for the top spot. http://www.wholesaleecco.com/ . A question that was repeatedly posed last season, and the season before that and in the 2011 campaign before that. Ecco Shoes Clearance Sale . -- San Francisco 49ers offensive co-ordinator Greg Roman is a finalist to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State, his agent said Monday. Ecco Shoes Buy Online . Austin does not believe the game-time temperature is going to be an advantage for either side heading into the Grey Cup. "We dont think about (the cold)," said Austin. "Im not even sure how you would determine an advantage.MONTREAL -- A lot of fingers were pointed lately at Max Pacioretty and his centre David Desharnais over the Montreal Canadiens weak goal production. That was put to rest, at least for now, on Tuesday night when Pacioretty got a natural hat trick in the second period and the Canadiens skated to a 6-2 NHL victory over the Minnesota Wild. Pacioretty picked up his first goals in 10 games since Oct. 12 in Vancouver, although he missed eight games with a leg injury during that stretch. "Theres a lot of things probably being said about me out there -- thats how it is in this business when youre not performing," said Pacioretty, who among other slights, had been criticized for being a "perimeter" player of late. "Everyone goes through it, but it felt good tonight. "You can look at stats all you want but I missed a lot of good opportunities lately. One game I had eight shots. It started getting into my head, thinking that I cant score, so its definitely a monkey off the back. The first one was lucky, off a skate and in, but you take them as they come." Desharnais got two assists, giving him three points in 20 games this season. Only last week, newly elected Montreal mayor Denis Coderre caused a stir when he suggested Desharnais be sent to the minors. He was scratched one game, but bounced back with better efforts of late. When he is on his game, the stocky centre is a clever passer and playmaker, although he only seems ever to click with Pacioretty. Part of the breakthrough came when coach Michel Therrien put tenacious right winger Brendan Gallagher on their unit. That threesome was Montreals best line in the second half of last season. And Pacioretty went hard to the front of the net for two of his goals. "Davy and I, our chemistry is at a level where he knows where Im going and he can throw blind passes, and thats what happened, said Pacioretty. "Gally gets everyone going. "Hes an energetic player. With him getting into the forecheck and disrupting the defence a little, all it takes is a split second. Hes a hound on the puck and he got us going." Michael Bournival, Daniel Briere and Alex Galchenyuk also scored for the Canadiens (11-9-2), who had tallied only 18 goals in their previous 11 games. Nino Niederreiter and Dany Heatley scored for the Wild (13-5-4), which ended a four-game winning streak and an eight-game undefeated run dating to a 5-1 loss to Chicago on Oct. 28. Minnesota looked nothing like the air-tight defensive club that was piling up wins in recent weeks. Once Paciorettys first goal went in, they put up little fight. Top defenceman Ryan Suter ended the night minus-3, whhile his partner Jonas Brodin was minus-4.dddddddddddd Coach Mike Yeo wants to see the team push back Wednesday night in Ottawa. "Its all a matter how you take this one in," said Yeo. "If we just sit here and say weve been on a nice run and this was bound to happen, then I dont think we should expect much difference from tonight. "If this stings like it should, it should he motivating for us to win that game." Wild starter Josh Harding, one of the NHLs three stars for his three wins last week, was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 19 shots in favour of third-stringer Darcy Kuemper, who looked shaky in allowing three goals on nine shots. Yeo said pulling Harding was partly to keep him fresh to play in Ottawa. Harding has given up three only twice this season, both times to Montreal. At 2:57 of the second period, Paciorettys slump ended when he had a Desharnais pass go in off his skate from in front of the net. The Canadiens, coming off a 1-0 loss at home to the New York Rangers on Saturday night, had not scored since a Lars Eller goal at 7:34 of the second period of a 3-2 shootout win last Friday in Columbus. Pacioretty converted a spin-around pass from Desharnais at 10:06 at even strength and then ended Hardings night when he tipped in P.K. Subbans point shot on a power play at 13:36. Bournival came from behind the net and beat Kuemper inside the near post at 16:16. Briere one-timed Brian Giontas cross-ice pass behind Kuemper on a counter attack 4:42 into the third. Niederreiter spoiled Carey Prices shutout less than a minute later when he went to the net to bang in his own rebound after a feed from behind the net from Kyle Brodziak. Galchenyuk converted an Andrei Markov feed on a power play at 7:35. Then Heatley, a shadow of his former self this season, jammed in a goal on a power play with 1.3 seconds left in the game for only his third goal in 22 games. In his heyday as a 50-goal and 100-point man with the Ottawa Senators, Heatley -- along with Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson -- terrorized the Canadiens. In 43 career games against Montreal, he has 25 goals and 52 points. Notes: Six goals was a season high scored for Montreal and allowed by Minnesota. . . Pacioretty got his second career hat trick (last: Feb. 9, 2012). . . Winger Rene Bourque (lower body) sat out and Ryan White returned to the Montreal lineup. . . Douglas Murray and George Parros were scratched. . . Minnesota sat out defenceman Matt Dumba. . .The Wild started a four-game road trip that takes them to Ottawa and then onto Winnipeg on Saturday and St. Louis on Monday. ' ' '