OAKLAND, Calif. _ The Oakland A's flexed their muscle early but needed a pair of two-out singles by Jed Lowrie in the seventh inning and Marcus Semien in the eighth to pull out a 6-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles Friday night before an announced crowd of 12,723 at the Coliseum.
It opened a six-game homestand for the Athletics, who evened their record at 16-16, while the Orioles fell to 8-24.
Tied 4-4 in the sixth, Lowrie hit a ground ball single to right to bring home the lead run with two outs. The A's had runners at second and third with no out after Stephen Piscotty reached on an error and Jonathan Lucroy doubled him to third.
Reliever Brad Bauch got Matt Joyce to fly to shallow left, then Jace Peterson threw out Piscotty at the plate on a grounder by Simien for the second out. Lowrie's ground ball found right field to get the A's the lead run.
In the eighth, with Jonathan Lucroy at second and two out, Semien fouled off several pitches from reliever Darren O'Day and poked a single to left to bring in an insurance run.
Rookie Lou Trivino (2-0) was the winning pitcher with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, getting help from Ryan Dull with a perfect eighth and Blake Treinen for his fourth save in the ninth.
The Athletics cruised into the sixth inning with a 4-1 lead, with manager Bob Melvin removing starter Daniel Mengden after 84 pitches.
Set-up reliever Yusmeiro Petit gave up a bunt single to Adam Jones to lead off the inning, then consecutive singles to Manny Machado, Chris Davis and Mark Trumbo, with Davis and Trumbo driving in runs to make it 4-3.
Petit struck out Pedro Alvarez before Danny Valencia singled solidly to center to tie the score. Trivino replaced Petit and got Peterson on a double play to end the inning with the score tied 4-4.
Following a 6-6 road trip during which the A's were inconsistent offensively, the sparsely populated Coliseum was a welcome sight for Davis and Olson, who struggled on the trip.
Davis' home run, his eighth to Lowrie for the team lead, came after a 3-for-32 road trip and came a day after he'd broken an 0-for-19 slump in Seattle. Seven of Davis' home runs have come with runners on base.
It was the 93rd home run for Davis since the start of the 2016 season, tying the Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton for the major league lead.
Olson was 5-for-25 on the road trip and had gone 12 games without a home run. Considering Olson hit 24 home runs in 65 games last season after being called up from AAA, having just three in 31 games wasn't what anyone had in mind.
Still, Melvin was unconcerned when asked about it before the game.
"He'll hit his share of homers," Melvin said. "Maybe he hasn't gotten off to as hot of a start as he'd want but you look at his on-base (percentage), he's still finding a way to get his hits."
True enough. Olson's batting average has fallen only from .259 to .255, and his on-base percentage from .352 to .347.
One factor _ the A's have faced an inordinate amount of left-handed pitchers this season, starters in particular.
Olson took just 24.5 percent of his at-bats against left-handers a season ago (hitting four home runs), and that's up to 34.7 percent (with no homers) so far this season.
Orioles starter Andrew Cashner, a right-hander, came in with a pitch Olson could handle it and he temporarily ended any more questions about his power.
Both teams dialed long distance in the first inning.
After Jones reached Mengden for a solo home run as the second batter of the game, the A's got busy immediately in the bottom of the first.
Leadoff hitter Matt Joyce drew a walk off Cashner, with Marcus Semien bouncing a ground ball to Manny Machado at short. Machado's throw to force the runner at second was dropped by Peterson to put runners at first and second.
Lowrie fouled to shortstop, with Davis tying into a 1-2 pitch and sending it deep over the fence in left center field, well above the 388-foot sign for a 3-1 A's lead.
Olson was next, and he ended his power drought with a solo shot to right center _ another no doubter _ and the A's led 4-1.
