Profar 5-RBI, Semien homer lead A's to outlast Orioles

Jurickson Profar homered on a four-hit, five-RBI night, and Marcus Semien homered and knocked in four as the visiting Oakland A's defeated the Baltimore Orioles 13-2 on Tuesday night. Profar ended the night 4-for-5 with a solo homer, three singles and the five RBI. He drove in four runs in the final three innings as Oakland snapped a four-game losing streak.

Also, Profar scored three runs and saw his average jump from .120 to .182. He began the series with a .106 average Monday. Semien finished 1-for-4 and added a sacrifice fly in addition to an early three-run homer.

Starter Brett Anderson (3-0) took advantage of a big early lead and went 6 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs and scattered seven hits. Baltimore starter John Means (1-1) suffered from some bad luck during a five-run second inning that gave the A's control of the game. He lasted three innings and gave up five runs on four hits in his first start.

Chris Davis, who set a major league record for a hitless streak by a position player on Monday (0-for-49), did not play. The A's took the early lead in a five-run second that featured three infield singles, an error and then the homer. Khris Davis and Chad Pinder began with infield singles. Davis moved to third on a grounder with two outs and scored on a Profar infield single.

Josh Phegley followed with a grounder to third, but Hanser Alberto's throw pulled Rio Ruiz off the bag at first and brought in the second run. Semien then came up with the big blow, his three-run homer for a 5-0 lead. The Orioles tried to cut into the lead in the third, but Oakland centre fielder Ramon Laureano threw out Richie Martin at home on a Joey Rickard single.

Profar then sent left-hander Richard Bleier's first pitch of the night into the left-field seats for a 6-0 lead in the seventh. Baltimore scored in the bottom of the inning when Pedro Severino lined a two-run double to deep right-centre that glanced off Laureano's glove and ended Anderson's night. The A's answered with four in the eighth, two coming on the two-run Profar single and three more in the ninth.

(With inputs from agencies.)