Rich Harden pitched six solid innings in his first start of the season to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 5-4 victory over the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

Harden (1-0), who was on the disabled list with a strained right shoulder, struck out six, and allowed two runs and four hits as Oakland won for only the third time in nine games.

Kelly Johnson hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Brian Fuentes to pull the Diamondbacks within 5-4, but Joey Devine got the last two outs of the eighth and Andrew Bailey worked a perfect ninth for his seventh save.

Cliff Pennington and Coco Crisp had back-to-back run-scoring singles in the fifth to give Oakland a 3-1 lead. Hideki Matsui followed with a two-run double to right to cap the four-run inning.

Wily Mo Pena hit a homer in the second and Stephen Drew had a run-scoring single in the sixth for the Diamondbacks, who have lost five of their last six games.

Arizona starter Josh Collmenter (4-5) gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.