OAKLAND, Calif._Somewhere among Oakland Coliseum's vastness and empty seats, the Orioles misplaced their bats their first three nights there this week, almost seeming too eager to escape Oakland and its void-of-charm stadium for their upcoming interleague series across the bay in San Francisco.
But before leaving, the Orioles left some parting shots, suddenly emerging from their Oakland funk with a 9-6 win over of the Athletics that seemed to make things right again, at least for one day, as they avoided a four-game sweep.
The Orioles (64-50) scored just three runs in their first three games of the series, and tripled that output in Thursday's series finale in front of an announced crowd of 16,610 at the Coliseum.
Thursday's game was more reminiscent of the Orioles' series finale in Chicago on Sunday � when the offense jumped out to an early lead and never looked back � than their first three games in Oakland, where their offense seemed to sleepwalk through three quickly played games.
Slumping slugger Mark Trumbo hit a grand slam off A's left-hander Daniel Coulombe to break the game open with two outs in the fifth inning � just his second homer over his past 17 games.
Trumbo had five RBIs on the afternoon, equaling the season high he set on April 15 when he hit a club-record two homers in one inning in Arlington, Texas. Trumbo, whose first-half power surge was one of the reasons the Orioles held onto first place for so long, entered the afternoon hitting just .158 (15-for-95) since the All-Star break.
Pedro Alvarez, who has been one of the club's hottest hitters since the beginning of June, drove in three runs with two coming on a one-out double in the fourth that gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead, matching their run output from the first three games in Oakland.
Adam Jones also homered, leading off the seventh with his 23rd of the season as part of his fifth multi-hit effort in his past seven games.
The Orioles chased former farmhand Andrew Triggs �� a reliever making his second major league start _ from the game after scoring three runs in four innings (66 pitches).
But it was the fifth when the Orioles broke the game open as Coulumbe loaded the bases with one out � Jones hit a leadoff single and then walked Machado and Chris Davis with one out_then fell behind Trumbo 3-0.
Two pitches later, Trumbo turned on a 91-mph fastball, sending it over the 388-foot mark in left-center field, bringing a noticeable group of Orioles fans seated behind the visiting dugout to their feet.
Making his fourth attempt to win his 15th game of the season, Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman posted the team's seventh straight quality start, holding the Athletics to two runs over seven innings.
