By Kahlil Najar

OAKLAND – The fireworks weren’t over after the All-Star game for the A’s. Josh Donaldson cranked a three-run shot to deep right-center field in the bottom of the ninth to give the A’s (60-36) a 5-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles (52-43).

“It was an amazing game all around,” said Bob Melvin. “Being able to put up a three spot in the ninth against a really good closer without an out. We’re going to play all 27 outs.”The game played out like a heavyweight boxing match. The hated Manny Machado and the Baltimore Orioles were coming to town six weeks after Machado and Donaldson had some words at third base and the teams matched each other with beaning each others players.

The A’s were able to get on the board first in the bottom of the third inning when Coco Crisp was able to cross home plate. Crisp hit a single to get on base then advanced to second on a wild pitch by Baltimore starting pitcher Chris Tillman. With Crisp on second John Jaso hit his 15th double of the year to center field and scored Crisp easily to give the A’s a 1-0 lead.

Baltimore waited until the fifth inning to strike and take the lead from Oakland. J.J. Hardy was beaned by Samardzija to start the inning and was moved to third after a single by Machado and ground out by the Orioles. Schoop then came up and hit his seventh home run of the year to left field and make it a 2-1 game.

Oakland didn’t take long to respond as Derek Norris came up in the bottom of the inning and hit a line shot over to left field that missed hitting the net in the Overstock.com “O” and tied the game at two a piece.

In the seventh, after hearing boos all night Manny Machado hit his 10th home run of the season over the out of town scoreboard with Hardy on base to give the Orioles a 4-2 lead. The homer was a slap in the face of all 27,000 Oakland fans that were in attendance as they could feel this one slipping away.

That was until the bottom of the ninth.

The Orioles put in their reliable closer Zach Britton to close the game. Back to Back Home Run Derby champion Yoenis Cespedes was up to bat first. The crowd was anxious in anticipation on a homer from Yo but he did the exact opposite. Cespedes hit a slow roller to third base that Machado wasn’t ready for so Cespedes was able to make it to first safely. Brandon Moss was next and he hit a nice bloop single to right field that landed him at first and the speedy Cespedes made it to third. Donaldson, who had been without a hit tonight, came up to the plate representing the winning run. On a first pitch two-seam fastball down the middle of the plate, Donaldson launched his 21st home run of the year into the back of the Coliseum and sent everyone home with a 5-4 Oakland victory.

The battle between Machado and Donaldson was not lost on crowd tonight or on Bob Melvin. Nor were the lead changing home runs by each player.

“Certainly there’s a little of irony involved in the whole thing,” said Melvin. “Our fans came out and there was some heckling. I think Machado handled it pretty well and he had a huge at bat and hit a big home run. Then to see JD come up in the ninth and you think ‘Really? Could this happen?’ and it did. We’ve seen JD come up big for us in those big at bats.”

The A’s and Orioles head back at it tomorrow night when Jason Hammel takes on Wei-Yin Chen, game time 6:05 pm.