Orioles 9, Athletics 5: Matt Wieters homered twice and Endy Chavez went 4-for-4 with two RBIs as visiting Baltimore avoided a sweep at Oakland.

Mark Reynolds, J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado each added an RBI for the Orioles, who stayed within one game of the New York Yankees in the American League East and maintained a 2 1/2-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels for the second wild-card spot.

Josh Reddick and Stephen Drew each hit two-run homers for the Athletics, who lost for just the second time in the last 10 games. Oakland dropped three games behind the Texas Rangers in the AL West but remains in first in the wild card race, two games clear of Baltimore.

The A’s took the early lead on Reddick’s 29th home run in the first but the Orioles began to chip away in the second, when Wieters sent Dan Straily’s 2-2 breaking ball out to right-center for a solo homer. Hardy’s RBI single in the third tied it and Wieters was at it again in the fourth, taking Straily (2-1) out to deep right for his 21st homer and a 3-2 lead.

Randy Wolf made his first start for Baltimore and went the first four innings before yielding to Tommy Hunter for a scoreless frame and Brian Matusz (6-10) for two perfect innings. That gave the offense plenty of time to tack on more runs, with one more in the fifth and a three-run seventh that put it away.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Oakland CF Coco Crisp missed the game with pink eye. He is expected back in the lineup on Tuesday. … Chavez’s four-hit afternoon was his first since he was with the Texas Rangers on June 2, 2011, when, at Cleveland, he also went 4-for-4. … Jim Johnson came on to record the final out and earn his 43rd save for the Orioles, who continue their road trip at Seattle on Monday. The A’s get Monday off before hitting the road for a 10-game trip through Detroit, New York and Texas.