PHILADELPHIA -- The A's flipped the script on the best team in baseball Friday night.

After falling into an early hole, Oakland grinded out one of its grittiest wins of the season in a 6-2 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park -- and it was uncharacteristic in just about every way.

The A's did not have an extra-base hit until Lawrence Butler's pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth inning. They sent the minimum six batters to the plate and saw just 15 pitches through two innings. They saw single-digit pitches in three of the first four frames.

It wasn’t the start manager Mark Kotsay was hoping for one night after his team managed only four singles in a shutout loss in Boston.

“We addressed the team a little bit pregame -- well, the hitters -- about the lack of fight last night,” Kotsay said.

Following the sluggish start, the A's went on to register a season-high four two-out hits with runners in scoring position -- including three straight run-scoring singles in what proved to be a decisive third inning. And they did all that against a Phillies team with the best record (61-33) in the Majors and their All-Star left-hander Ranger Suárez on the mound.

“They came out and responded tonight,” Kotsay said. “So that was nice to see.”

Oakland's offense entered the night having scored an MLB-low 114 runs with two outs this season. It also ranked 28th in batting average (.211), 29th in slugging percentage (.323) and 29th in OPS (.619).

The A's had been even worse with runners in scoring position and two away. Their .182 average, .599 OPS and 87 runs scored in those situations all ranked last in the Majors.

In the early going, it was looking as if it could be a struggle just to get a runner in scoring position against Suárez, who entered with a National League-leading 2.58 ERA. But with two outs and nobody on in the third, No. 9 hitter Max Schuemann reached on an infield single, before Daz Cameron followed with a four-pitch walk.

Miguel Andujar, Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers then delivered three consecutive two-out RBI singles. After seeing only nine pitches in the first and six in the second, Oakland forced Suárez to throw 32 pitches in a lengthy third inning.

“That was the turning point,” Kotsay said. “We took the momentum from them and that's an inning that you can capitalize on and win games with -- and we did that tonight.”

Langeliers added another two-out RBI single in the fifth on a night when the A's went 4-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

The A's needed every one of the early clutch hits in a game in which starter Hogan Harris walked six batters and did not register a strikeout while lasting only three innings. Despite all the traffic on the bases, Harris allowed only two of his nine baserunners to score.

The lefty limited the damage with double plays in the first and third innings. In the second, Harris forced Trea Turner -- the NL's starting shortstop in Tuesday's All-Star Game -- to pop out to strand the bases loaded.

“Six walks and three innings from your starter, you don't generally win those games,” Kotsay said.

To that point, this was the 20th time since 1950 that an A's starter walked at least six batters in three innings or fewer. It was only the second of those 20 games that resulted in a win.

The timely hitting helped. So did the bullpen.

Osvaldo Bido allowed just one hit over three scoreless innings of relief before Scott Alexander (one inning), T.J. McFarland (two-thirds of an inning) and Lucas Erceg (one-third of an inning) bridged the gap to Mason Miller. Oakland's electric closer struck out two in a scoreless ninth while topping out at 103.7 mph.

“The guys, for lack of a better term, pitched their asses off. They killed it out there,” Harris said. “And the guys are hitting right now. It goes to show how good we really are. In my opinion, we're not a 36-60 team. I think we have the talent to easily flip that number one day and I think we can do it if we just keep playing like we did tonight.”

They showed it against a Phillies team that is already at that point. Along with their 61-33 overall record, Philadelphia is 36-15 at home.

“That's the type of team we are -- we're a grinding team,” Butler said. “Everybody thinks we're not going to come out and hit, but at the end of the day, we have the mindset that we're going to come out and show these teams that we're not going to lay down. You're going to have to beat us and we won’t make it easy.”