OAKLAND, Calif – Mark Ellis singled off the wall in left with the bases loaded in the ninth after pinch-hitter Todd Walker tied the game on an RBI single, lifting the Oakland Athletics past the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Tuesday night.

After Walker’s single against Bobby Jenks (1-1), Travis Buck was intentionally walked to bring up Ellis, who made up for an earlier three-base fielding error with the winning hit.

Huston Street (1-0) pitched one perfect inning for the win on a night

Jon Garland, who matched his career best with 18 victories in 2006, allowed three hits in seven shutout innings, and Juan Uribe gave the White Sox the lead on a fifth-inning single. A’s fill-in starter Chad Gaudin also had a strong day and Oakland bounced back following a 4-1 defeat with ace Rich Harden on the mound Monday night.

Still, the A’s have scored two or fewer runs in each of their last five games, the longest such streak for the club since Aug. 20-24, 1980.

Gaudin might have earned himself another chance with 5 2-3 innings in which he matched his career high of six strikeouts. He allowed only three hits and one run while walking three.

The right-hander didn’t have a baserunner until Scott Podsednik’s leadoff single in the fourth. He got through three innings on 38 pitches and had a strikeout every inning.

After A.J. Pierzynski grounded out starting the fifth, Gaudin gave up a walk to Alex Cintron before back-to-back singles from Rob Mackowiak and Uribe. Gaudin then struck out Podsednik swinging and got Darin Erstad to ground out.

Gaudin was moved into the rotation in place of the injured Esteban Loaiza, who began the season on the disabled list with an injury in his neck and upper back. Podsednik singled to left-center over the outstretched glove of leaping shortstop Bobby Crosby for the first runner off Gaudin.

Either Gaudin or left-hander Joe Kennedy, who will start against Mark Buehrle in Wednesday afternoon’s series finale, will have their turn skipped next week as the A’s adjust their rotation around a pair of off days.

For as much as Oakland stressed situational hitting all spring, the defending AL West champions have struggled in key situations so far _ aside from Ellis’ clutch effort. The A’s were batting .189 (14-for-74) with runners in scoring position coming into Tuesday night and missed more chances. Oakland had runners on first and second with one out in the first but couldn’t capitalize.

After Buck’s triple led off the fifth, the A’s stranded him, too. Garland retired the final nine batters he faced after that hit, giving way to Mike MacDougal to start the eighth.

Milton Bradley singled off Jenks to start the ninth and extended his hitting streak against Chicago to 23 games, while Mike Piazza followed with a single. Piazza is 12-for-24 with three doubles, a home run and four multihit games over his last six contests after starting his new gig as a full-time designated hitter 1-for-12.

Ellis committed a three-base fielding error in the seventh on a tough shallow fly in right by Cintron.