Gonzalez sharp in debut but Athletics lose

Gio Gonzalez was sharp in his MLB debut in which he made one mistake, but it was a big one as his Oakland Athletics lost 5-1 to the Toronto Blue Jays.  Gonzalez gave up a 3-run homer to Rod Barajas in the first inning before settling down to retire the next 16 of 17 batters he faced. However the A's couldn't get anything going against Shaun Marcum as he and the Blue Jays bullpen held Oakland to three hits on the night.  The A's only run came on a Bobby Crosby home run in the top of the sixth inning.  Gonzalez finished the night pitching six innings allowing four hits, four runs and two walks while striking out four. Oakland has lost nine games in a row and is 2-16 since the All-Star break.  The Athletics will try to end that skid and avoid a four game sweep when they take on Toronto in the series finale on Thursday night.