By Morris Phillips

Trevor May—one of baseball’s ten highest ranked minor league prospects—couldn’t contain his excitement in his highly-anticipated major league debut.

Unfortunately for May, baseball’s highest scoring team as well as baseball’s best home team noticed right away that he was probably a little too amped up in front of friends, family and his new Twins’ teammates.

So the A’s did what they normally do. They watched and waited with fantastic results.

May’s debut was brief as he lasted just two innings and allowed seven walks in the A’s 9-4 win that gave them wins in each of the first three games of this four-game series. When May departed the A’s were up 4-1 and well on their way to their 12 straight win against the youthful, but hapless Twins.

“Your brain can get scattered in several different ways,” A’s catcher Derek Norris said. “Some guys are able to harness it, and unfortunately the kid tonight, he just wasn’t able to harness all the adrenaline (and) stuff that was going on.”

May retired A’s leadoff batter Coco Crisp on one pitch. But then Sam Fuld singled, Josh Donaldson doubled, and Brandon Moss walked to load the bases. Norris was next, and he appeared to be in a tough spot down 1-2 in the count. But May issued three straight balls to walk Norris and give up the game’s first run.

May escaped further damage in the first when Josh Willingham turned a nifty double play by catching Josh Reddick’s fly ball to right and throwing Donaldson out at the plate. Still, the A’s had their jump start, scoring in the first inning for the first time in their last 18 games.

In the second inning, May appeared to settle, retiring the first two batters. But then he walked the bases loaded and allowed a two-run single to Donaldson. Then just as he had done in the first inning, May walked Moss and Norris to put the A’s up 4-1. Notably, Norris picked up a pair of RBI without putting the ball in play as May couldn’t gather himself after starting Norris with three straight balls.

“He could gather himself,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “They took a lot of pitches and we walked a lot of people. That was pretty much the story.”

Gardenhire, well known for his disdain for free passes, probably developed an ulcer watching the display. Since 1986, the Twins have employed just two managers—Gardenhire and Tom Kelly—who are well known for pulling pitchers quickly who issue walks. But somehow, Gardenhire let May finish the inning, making him only the second Minnesota pitcher to issue seven walks in just two innings of work. Consequently, the young May had a lot of explaining to do after the game.

“It was a lot of factors: some excitement, getting used to the ball,” May said. “All kinds of stuff. But at the end of the day there’s no excuses not making pitches when you need to and not executing.”

The quick start was just what the doctor ordered for A’s starter Jeff Samardzija. Plagued by poor run support as a Cub earlier this year, Samardzija knew exactly what to do when staked to an early lead. The former Notre Dame All-American wide receiver allowed single runs in the first and fifth innings on his way to his third straight win as an Athletic at home. Samardzija allowed seven hits and two walks, but made big pitches when he needed too in a 109-pitch, six-inning performance.

After May departed, Stephen Vogt and Derek Norris greeted reliever Samuel Deduno with home runs and the rout was on. The A’s registered their 26th win by five runs or more. The A’s improved to a major-league best 40-20 at home, which includes wins in 34 of their last 45 home dates. The A’s maintained their four game lead over the Angels in the AL West after their southland rivals outlasted the Red Sox in 19 innings Saturday night in Anaheim.

On Sunday, Jason Hammel, coming off his best start and first win as an Athletic, faces former Yankee Phil Hughes in the series finale at 1:05pm.