O's hit back-to-back homers twice to win opener (quotes added)

OAKLAND, Calif. - In need of offense after scoring three runs over the last two games, the Orioles turned to an old friend tonight - the longball.

They hit back-to-back homers on back-to-back pitches twice tonight to beat the A's 7-2 in the opener of this four-game series at Oakland Coliseum. The Orioles improved to 57-58 for the season and to 2-2 on this 10-game road trip. Oakland is 50-65.

Adam Jones and Trey Mancini went back-to-back in the fourth off A's righty Chris Smith for a 3-1 lead. Two innings later, Mancini and Mark Trumbo went back-to-back. It is the eighth and ninth times the Orioles have homered back-to-back this season.

The Orioles' first nine hits tonight were all extra-base hits with four doubles, a triple and four homers. Craig Gentry, batting for Seth Smith, singled in the eighth for the team's 10^th hit and first single. The nine extra-base hits is a season high.

The team record for most hits in a game where they were all extra-base hits is six. That was done twice - in 1959 and 2003.

That offense was more than enough for left-hander Wade Miley, who pitched his third straight solid game. Over seven innings, Miley allowed just three hits and one unearned run with three walks and seven strikeouts.

Miley improves to 6-9 with an ERA of 5.19. Over his last three starts, he is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.12, allowing four earned over 17 innings. For the 10^th time in the last 13 games, an O's starter allowed two earned runs or less.

Moved to the leadoff spot today, shortstop Tim Beckham immediately delivered for the Orioles. He tripled to deep center on a 2-2 pitch to start the game. Manny Machado followed with a slow roller to third, Beckham scored and the O's led 1-0 two batters into the game.

Beckham has hit safely in his first 10 games with the team. That is tied for the fourth-longest streak to start a Baltimore career. The record is 15 straight by David Newhan in 2004. Beckham went 2-for-5, is batting .500 and has seven multi-hit games.

The lead didn't last long as Oakland tied it in the home half of the first. Rajai Davis led off with a single. Miley had him picked off, but Mancini's throw toward second hit Davis, who advanced to third. It was a stolen base and error on Mancini. Jed Lowrie's one-out sac fly to right tied it up at 1-1.

The Orioles then used the first of the homers to break the tie. Jones and Mancini hit consecutive homers in the fourth for a 3-1 lead. Jones hit one 414 feet to left center for his 21st. Mancini hit No. 19 a distance of 391 feet to right field. Jones hit a 3-2 pitch and Mancini hit the next pitch out.

Two innings later, they went back-to-back again. Mancini blasted his second of the game and 20^th on the year for a 4-1 lead and Trumbo followed with another for 5-1. Trumbo snapped an 0-for-24 stretch. Mancini went 3-for-4 with a double and produced his fourth career two-homer game. The Orioles hit three homers in three games in Anaheim and hit four in the first six innings tonight.

Jones drove in two with a double in the seventh for a three-RBI night as the lead grew to 7-1. A two-out error on shortstop Marcus Semien made the runs unearned. It was the A's major league-leading 96^th error.

Down 7-2 after scoring once in the eighth, Oakland threatened in the ninth and the Orioles used three pitchers to get three outs. The last was Zach Britton, who got out of a bases-loaded jam to record his 10th save.

On a night when manager Buck Showalter rested slumping Chris Davis, the Orioles produced plenty of offense and got the series in Oakland off to a winning start.

Postgame quotes:

Showalter on Miley: "Good. Real good. Attacked both sides of the plate, more than one pitch there for him. That little two or three inches, brings it back over a little bit and pounded that area over there. Moved the ball around. He's always got a good tempo, guys like playing behind him. Put some zeros up. I don't think there was an earned run, right? Obviously, that's good."

Showalter on Mancini's big night: "Every time you think Trey is getting ready to maybe have a spot that some rookies do, he seems to get right back on track. That's a real testament to him and how strong he is mentally. Adam had some big hits for us tonight, and I thought Beck presented himself well. He made a big stop tonight on a ball in the hole to save a run that might go unnoticed."

Mancini on the offense: "It was a big night for us. Tim just started us off. Leading the game off with a triple was big, just kind of got some momentum going and from there we just kind of kept it rolling consistently throughout the game. It felt like we had a good offensive night there."

Mancini on reaching the 20-homer mark: "I don't know if it was unexpected. I didn't really think too much before the season about how many home runs did I think I would hit or anything. It definitely feels good, especially back in spring training not knowing where I was going to be this year. Just really not try to take any time for granted here and trying to help this team win some games."

Miley on his outing: "Yeah, it was a lot better. Welly (Welington Castillo) did a good job. Kind of struggled a bit that first inning trying to find the command, but we stuck with it. Stuck with the game plan and it worked out."

Miley on getting out of jams in the fourth and fifth: "That was huge. Especially after we scored runs. We scored the first run obviously and they answered right back. But after the two more to make a 3-1 game, just wanted to go out and have a shutdown inning. Get us back in there and we were able to tack on some more. Anytime you can keep them off the board after we score is huge momentum."