PHOENIX – A's closer Grant Balfour's plan to be ready to pitch on Opening Day after having arthroscopic knee surgery Feb. 14 remains on track.

Balfour threw about 25 pitches off a mound Friday morning for the first time since the procedure for a torn meniscus in his right knee and said he came out of it fine.

"It's been a couple weeks since I've been off the mound, so just trying to build up that stamina again," Balfour said. "But my arm's been feeling good."

Balfour has been throwing off flat ground, so he was able to throw all his pitches Friday. He said the knee isn't very sore, but he must be careful not to reopen the cuts from the surgery, which are small and nearly healed.

"I'm basically waiting until Monday to get more of an OK from the doctor and then can start getting after it a bit more," he said.

Young runs – Center fielder Chris Young was in the lineup for the first time since experiencing cramping in his quadriceps last weekend. Naturally, the first ball hit Friday was a scorching liner to center off the bat of the Giants' Angel Pagan.

Young broke back on the ball with no problems and made the catch. He also singled in his first two at-bats.

"He ran fine," manager Bob Melvin said.

Tough inning – The Giants did most of their damage in a 13-9 win with a seven-run sixth inning. All seven runs came against A's left-hander and former Giant Travis Blackley, who retired just one of the eight batters he faced in his second appearance of the spring.

"Just had trouble missing some bats today," Melvin said. "Other than that, we had some really good things happening."

Among those good things, Melvin singled out:

• Outfield prospect Michael Choice, a nonroster invitee, who singled twice and drove in a run and is 9 for 16 this spring.

• Andy Parrino, who entered the game to play third base and went 2 for 2. Melvin called him a "grinder" who has shown defensive versatility.

• Outfielder Michael Taylor broke his 0-for-10 start with a single to right-center in the seventh inning. Melvin said Taylor stayed behind Thursday when the A's played a road game against the Cubs and worked with hitting coach Chili Davis.

"I think they found some things for him," Melvin said.

Et cetera – Jemile Weeks, who is battling for the second-base job after a disappointing 2012 season, went 1 for 3 and is hitting .545. However, he committed his second error of the spring on a potential double-play ball.

Giants – Brandon Belt stayed red hot, lining three singles against the A's a day after going 2 for 3 with a homer.

Angel Villalona homered, and Gary Brown had a two-run triple. The day was a mixed bag for Kensuke Tanaka, a Japanese infielder attempting to win a backup job. Tanaka had a hit, a stolen base and two walks but made two errors in his first start at shortstop.

• Madison Bumgarner gave up three hits and walked two in 1 2/3 innings but was pleased with his stuff and said much of the outing focused on sharpening a two-seam fastball that he hasn't thrown in two years.

• Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum is scheduled to start today's game against the Chicago Cubs in Scottsdale, Ariz.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

• Read more articles by Matt Kawahara

Order Reprint