BALTIMORE | Ty Wigginton and Luke Scott hit successive homers in the seventh inning, and the Baltimore Orioles tied a season-high with five longballs in a 9-6 comeback victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night. Adam Jones, Corey Patterson and Miguel Tejada also connected for Baltimore, which trailed 6-3 before rallying for its fifth win in six games. Patterson hit a solo shot in the fourth, Wigginton tied it with a two-run drive in the seventh against Brad Ziegler and Scott homered off Cedrick Bowers (0-1). Wigginton’s homer was the first this season by a Baltimore first baseman. It was his 14th, the first since May 22. Scott had a career-high three walks before launching a shot to center. He strained his left hamstring near first base and limped home. Tejada added a two-run shot off Tyson Ross in the eighth. Matt Albers (3-3) pitched one inning of scoreless relief and Alfredo Simon worked the ninth for his 10th save. Coco Crisp homered and Mark Ellis had three hits for the A’s, whose four-game winning streak ended. Oakland went 10-17 in June; the last time A’s lost more than 16 games in June was in 1986 (7-22). Oakland trailed 3-0 before batting around in a six-run fourth against Kevin Millwood. The highlights included Mark Ellis scoring on the front end of an attempted double steal, an RBI single by Gabe Gross and Crisp’s three-run homer to left. Ellis was at third and Gross at first when Cliff Pennington took a half-swing at a 3-2 pitch with the runners going. Catcher Matt Wieters threw to second, but the pitch was ruled ball four and Ellis came home on what the official scorer ruled a fielder’s choice. Lowlights for Baltimore during the inning included errors by Tejada at third base and Patterson in left; Wieters’ inexplicable throw to second; and Millwood throwing 42 pitches to get three outs. In his 400th career appearance, Millwood allowed six runs, five earned, eight hits and two walks in five innings. For the first time in eight starts, Millwood got out of the first inning without giving up a run. Twenty of the 35 runs he allowed in his previous seven games came in the opening inning. Baltimore went up 2-0 in the second when Luke Scott led off with a walk and Jones hit an opposite-field drive over the 25-foot scoreboard in right. Although the box score won’t show it, Crisp made an outstanding catch at the wall in center on a drive by Patterson in the second inning. Crisp hit his head on the padding, fell to the warning track and stayed there for several minutes. The play did not count, however, because Patterson was awarded first base on catcher’s interference. In the third, Jones doubled in Scott, who walked and took second on a passed ball. NOTES: Jones homered, doubled and singled in first three at-bats. Needing a triple for the cycle, he struck out and lined out. … Oakland has been denied a fifth straight victory three times this season. … The five HRs allowed tied the A’s season high.
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