Rickard and Machado go back-to-back in the first (O's win 9-4)

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Orioles made themselves feel welcome early tonight in Anaheim, taking a 2-0 lead on a pair of homers two batters into the game and the start of a nine-game road trip.

On the second pitch from Angels lefty Hector Santiago, the O's Joey Rickard homered to left center. He hit an 0-1 fastball for his fourth homer of the season and first-ever in the majors to leadoff a game.

Manny Machado followed with a booming blast to right-center field for a 2-0 lead. He hit No. 12 on a 3-1 fastball. Machado had been 2-for-24 his previous six games and Rickard was 4-for-23 his last six contests.

This was already the eighth time this season the Orioles hit back-to-back homers. That is two more than all of last year. Rickard's homer traveled 402 feet and Machado's was 427 feet, according to Statcast.

Santiago was coming off eight scoreless innings against Seattle in his last start. But today he gave up two homers in his first eight pitches.

O's starter Mike Wright pitched a scoreless bottom of the first, but it wasn't easy. Kole Calhoun doubled to right-center with one out. A fan interferred with the ball at the top of the wall near the yellow line. A ball hit over that line is a homer but the call on the field stood upon a review and it was a double for Calhoun. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and was cut down at the plate when Mike Trout grounded to first. Chris Davis came up throwing and Matt Wieters put down the tag for the out. Wright threw just 12 pitches in an eventful, but scoreless bottom of the first inning.

Rickard got into another pitch in the second inning. With Paul Janish on first and two outs, he drove a pitch to the top of the wall in center and Trout made a very nice catch. It was close to a homer, at least extra bases for Rickard, if Trout didn't get there.

The Angels did pull within 2-1 in the second on doubles by Rafael Ortega and Carlos Perez. So Wright is at 31 pitches over two innings with a one-run lead.

The Orioles went 2-5 against the Angels last year, but are 11-8 since 2013 against Los Angeles, including a mark of 6-4 in this park in that span.

Update: Mark Trumbo returned to Anaheim with a two-run homer. His blast to left-center in the third traveled 418 feet as the pounding of Santiago continued. It was No. 13 for Trumbo to take the team lead over Machado, who walked and scored on that home run.

Pitching to the very next batter, Wieters, Santiago was ejected. He seemed to yell something after a pitch to home plate umpire John Tumpane, who tossed him.

Right-hander Mike Morin (1-0, 5.17 ERA) came on and allowed a Wieters single. He then got Jonathan Schoop to fly out to end the top of the third, which ended with Baltimore ahead 4-1. Santiago allowed three hits and four runs over 2 2/3.

A rather eventful start to a road trip in Anaheim tonight.

Update II: The Angels knocked Wright from the game and tied it up at 4-4 with a three-run last of the sixth. It started with a single and walk and later there was a critical error on first baseman Chris Davis. He fielded a grounder and his throw toward second to try and get a double play hit the runner to load the bases.

Johnny Giovatella's single made it 4-2 right before the Davis error loaded the bases. Mychal Givens came on and yielded a sac fly by Carlos Perez and a bloop RBI single to right by Gregorio Petit for the 4-4 tie.

Wright's line: 5 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts and 95 pitches.

Update III: The Orioles got the lead back with....a homer. Jose Alvarez came on to pitch the seventh and Machado reached on a one-out error by third baseman Yunel Escobar and that proved big. With two outs Davis hit a two-run shot to left-center just over the wall. It was just past the glove of left fielder Rafael Ortega, who leaped and crashed into the wall in trying to make a spectacular catch. That made it Orioles 6, Angels 4.

So that is four homers for the Orioles tonight and a nice response to the Angels tying this game.

It's a final: The Orioles beat the Angels 9-4 to take the series and road trip opener. Los Angeles had won six of its last seven games. The Orioles are 25-15 overall and have won 11 of 16 games and 14 of 21 games.

The O's added two runs to a 6-4 lead in the eighth on Nolan Reimold's sac fly and an RBI single by Rickard, who drove in two runs. Reimold added a second RBI with a ninth-inning single. The Orioles produced 14 hits tonight and saw five different players drive in runs.

They hit four homers and are now 6-0 this year when they hit four or more. Wieters went 3-for-5 and is 6-for-9 his past two games and now batting .274. Schoop added three hits. In scoring eight runs tonight, the Orioles scored one more run than they had in three games in the Seattle series.

Clubhouse quotes to come in an entry later.