Wilson with strong start, Davis and Joseph homer as O's top Oakland

Chris Davis got it started for the Orioles with a first-inning homer. Then, his teammates joined in on offense while rookie right-hander Tyler Wilson had things under control on the mound.

The Orioles hammered Oakland 9-2 on Monday night to start their nine-game West Coast trip. They improved to 54-51 with their eighth win in the last 10 games. With the victory, the Orioles moved into a three-way tie with Minnesota and Toronto for the American League's second wild card playoff spot.

Making a spot start for the injured Chris Tillman, Wilson, the Orioles' 2014 minor league Pitcher of the Year, provided a very solid performance. Over 7 2/3 innings, he allowed six hits and two runs, with two walks and three strikeouts. Wilson is now 2-1 with an ERA of 2.19 in six major league games.

Wilson threw 77 percent fastballs against the A's. In two Orioles starts this season, he has an ERA of 2.63, allowing four runs over 13 2/3 innings.

The Orioles quickly jumped on Oakland right-hander Jesse Chavez. Davis followed singles by Gerardo Parra and Adam Jones with a three-run blast to right in the opening inning. His 27th homer is one more than he hit all last year, and it gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead.

Over his last 13 games, Davis has hit eight homers and knocked in 22 runs. He has 75 RBIs on the season, three more than last season.

Jones, who went 3-for-5, added an RBI double in the third for a 4-0 edge. Caleb Joseph then hit a two-run homer in the fourth, and it was 6-0. An inning later, Jimmy Paredes and Joseph added RBI doubles to make it 8-1. Manny Machado's RBI single in the eighth completed the O's scoring.

Joseph went 2-for-4 with a three-RBI game, his second in a row. Joseph has hit four homers his last nine games and driven in 16 runs over his past 11 games.

Five Orioles drove in runs and four had multi-hit games as the Orioles had 14 hits, six for extra bases. Jonathan Schoop and Joseph batting eighth and ninth respectively went 5-for-8 with three runs and three RBIs. The Orioles have suddently been scoring some runs, and they've plated 32 runs the last five games and 53 in the last 10.

Chavez allowed a season-high six runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. A's starters had allowed an ERA of just 1.71 the previous six games.

The Orioles won in a venue in which they have often struggled. They went 1-2 at Oakland last year, were 7-19 there since 2008 and had lost 35 of their last 49 at Oakland. But the Orioles have gone 25-17 on the West Coast since 2012, and they started this trip on a winning note.

In the second game of this series on Tuesday night, Miguel Gonzalez (9-7, 4.28 ERA) faces right-hander Chris Bassitt (0-4, 3.10 ERA).