"After two horrendous outings, Ben Sheets spiffed up his act Saturday at the Coliseum.

He made a slight change with his arm slot, and he was rewarded with his longest outing of the season and a season-high eight strikeouts in Oakland's 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay.

"I think I relaxed," Sheets said. "I hadn't relaxed all year, but I was comfortable with the adjustment I made and I could throw strikes. It's like I returned to who I was before. ... No doubt that's by far the most comfortable I've been out there."

Sheets, signed to a $10 million one-year contract in January, missed all of last season after elbow surgery, and the A's expected he'd be a bit rusty at the outset. Sheets is inconsistent, more than anything - he didn't allow more than three earned runs in any of his first four starts and then gave up 17 runs in his last two going into Saturday.

Sheets' location was off in those outings at Tampa Bay and Toronto, and on Saturday, he regained it, hitting the corners with more regularity."