Rookie Austin Allen belted a two-run, go-ahead home run in the seventh inning and Matt Olson connected for the second time in the game to provide an insurance run in the eighth as the host Oakland Athletics rallied for a 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.
Ramon Laureano also homered for Oakland, which fell behind one pitch into the game and later trailed 4-2 before mounting a powerful comeback to win its fifth straight.
Allen's homer in the eighth, the first of his two-year career, came off Rangers right-hander Ian Gibaut (0-1) and followed a one-out single by Tony Kemp. Allen had been 1-for-13 in his first season with the A's before connecting off the second-year Ranger.
Olson's second homer of the night and third of the season came leading off the eighth against Luke Farrell.
T.J. McFarland (1-0), who retired two of three hitters he faced bridging the seventh and eighth innings, was credited with the win.
Joakim Soria got the final two outs of the eighth and then sailed through a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.
The Rangers jumped right on A's starter Sean Manaea when Shin-Soo Choo smacked the first pitch of the game for a solo home run, his third of the season.
Olson put the A's on top against Rangers starter Kyle Gibson with a two-run shot in the last of the first, before Texas knocked Manaea from the box in a three-run fourth that produced a 4-2 lead.
Nick Solak had an RBI double, Isiah Kiner-Falefa a run-scoring single and Rob Refsnyder a sacrifice fly to account for the three runs.
Manaea was charged with all four Texas runs on six hits in 3 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Burch Smith came on to throw 3 1/3 innings of no-hit relief to set the pace for an A's relief effort that limited the Rangers to just one hit over the final 5 2/3 innings. Smith, McFarland and Soria combined to strike out eight.
Gibson left with a lead after six innings, having allowed three runs and four hits. He walked two and struck out nine.
Laureano's homer, his third of the season, came off Gibson in the fifth and got the A's within 4-3.
Kemp joined Olson with two hits for the A's. Elvis Andrus and Todd Frazier collected two hits apiece for the Rangers, who matched Oakland with seven hits.
--Field Level Media
