By: Eric He

AP photo: The Baltimore Orioles Mark Trumbo swings for the fences for a fifth inning grand slam against the Oakland A’s at the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday afternoon

OAKLAND — The A’s couldn’t finish off a sweep of the Orioles at home on Thursday afternoon, falling 9-6 at the Coliseum.

Down 7-0 at one point, the A’s snuck closer in the later innings with four runs in the eighth. Entering the inning trailing by six, Max Muncy hit a solo home run to right. A double by Yonder Alonso into the game scored two runs, and Billy Butler added an RBI single to draw the A’s within three.

They had the tying run on base in the ninth, as the bases were loaded with two out for Danny Valencia, but he grounded out to second to end the game.

After squeaking out one-run wins in each of the first three games of the series, the A’s showed fight in battling back from a large deficit, according to manager Bob Melvin.

“We showed good fight as much as anything,” he said. “The whole series, we won some close games. To be able to come back and knowing that their best relievers are going to come in the game late, we really never quit.”

He continued: “That’s good to see. It’s easy to let down when you’re down by seven runs at one point, but that wasn’t the case. We continued to fight.”

Neither team made much noise until the fourth inning, when the Orioles finally got to A’s spot starter Andrew Triggs. Manny Machado and Chris Davis singled to put runners at the corners with one out. A single by Mark Trumbo and a double to the gap by Pedro Alvarez scored three runs and ended Triggs’ day after 66 pitches.

Triggs said he was “happy” with his outing, but ran into some “speed bumps” in the fourth. He admitted his worst pitch was the 1-0 to Trumbo that resulted in the first run of the game.

“I was lucky in that situation to just get out of it with the single, and you get the double by Alvarez that breaks it open,” he said. “Overall, I was happy with the pitches I was making, for the most part.”

Daniel Coloumbe did not fare much better in relief in the fifth inning. He loaded the bases with two outs, and then allowed a grand slam to Trumbo who hit it out to straightaway center.

The A’s got on the board in the fifth inning on a two-run homer by Ryon Healy, but that was negated in the seventh by two runs by the Orioles – a home run by Adam Jones and another RBI by Alvarez.

Oakland, now 51-63 overall, is 3-4 on its 10-game homestand, which wraps up with a three-game series against the Mariners starting Friday at the Coliseum.