PHOENIX — Zack Gelof tripled to key a three-run eighth and the Oakland Athletics snapped a five-game losing streak, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-4 on Friday night.
The A's also halted an 11-game road losing streak. They hadn't won away from home since June 1 in Atlanta and had lost 15 of their previous 18 games overall.
''Overall it was a great game," A's manager Mark Kotsay said. "We've hit a lot of home runs as an offense, but we haven't built innings that way; walks, couple hits, it's nice to see.''
Gelof was 3 for 4 with the RBI triple, a walk and a stolen base.
''The month of June has been a lot better for him and he's finishing up really strongly," Kotsay said.
Gelof's average went from .196 to .205 on Friday. He hit .267 with 14 homers as a rookie second baseman last season, but has found it tougher in his second year.
''All around we put it together,'' he said. "It just feels good to win on the road.''
Tyler Soderstrom's home run off Ryan Thompson (3-3) leading off the eighth tied it at 4. Thompson then walked rookie Armando Alvarez before Gelof hit a line drive to the gap in right-center, scoring the go-ahead run. Max Schuemann followed by chopping a single over the head of shortstop Geraldo Perdomo to make it 6-4.