OAKLAND – The calendar may have flipped to a new month, but Brent Rooker does not appear as if he is going to be cooling off at the plate any time soon.

Coming off a red-hot July, Rooker carried over his power surge into his first game of August by launching his 27th home run of the year -- a 419-foot two-run shot to straightaway center off Joe Kelly -- in Friday night’s 6-5 victory over the Dodgers at the Coliseum.

Rooker’s blast capped a four-run fifth inning for the A’s that included an RBI triple by Miguel Andujar -- who notched three hits on the night -- and an RBI double by JJ Bleday.

Rooker made a strong case to earn American League Player of the Month honors with an impressive July in which he hit .391 with 11 homers, 30 RBIs and a 1.288 OPS in 24 games. He led the Majors in RBIs (30) and tied for the lead in home runs with Colorado’s Brenton Doyle, while ranking second in slugging percentage (.828) OPS and runs scored (24).

Rooker became the fourth A’s player in the expansion era (since 1961) to finish a month with 11 or more homers and 30 or more RBIs.

The other three:

• Reggie Jackson, June 1969
• Jose Canseco, May 1990
• Jason Giambi Sept. 2000

As spectacular as those numbers were, Rooker took more from what he feels was growth as an overall hitter last month.

“July was a really productive month, obviously,” Rooker said. “But I think I learned a lot, too. I was a better hitter on July 31 than I was on July 1, and I think that is due to just being willing to take information from each at-bat, each game, each series and apply it to the next one. I’m going to continue that process of getting better and try to become the best hitter that I can be.”

The hitter Rooker is now is already quite accomplished. Among qualified AL hitters, the 29-year-old slugger is tied for fifth in homers with a .959 OPS that is good for fifth, trailing only All-Stars Bobby Witt Jr., Rafael Devers, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.

It has certainly been a rapid ascent for Rooker, who last season fought to make the club out of Spring Training before becoming an All-Star for the first time in his career. This season, Rooker has emerged as an offensive force whom the rebuilding A’s view as a key piece of their future beyond 2024. The club turned down offers from several teams interested in acquiring him at the Trade Deadline.

“It’s great to have him with this group and really becoming a middle-of-the-order bat that most people now will recognize his name and his abilities,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “It’s been a long road for him. … Now, we’re seeing him flourish and make a name for himself in this game and establishing himself as a ... bat that needs to be feared.”

Throughout a July that saw the A’s post the third-best record in MLB at 15-9, Rooker was one of several hitters who lifted an offense that led the Majors in home runs (45) and AL with an average of 6.2 runs per game. That display of power was there again on Friday. In addition to Rooker, Shea Langeliers and Seth Brown also launched solo homers off Gavin Stone to provide early support for A’s rookie starter Joey Estes. After allowing a two-run homer to Teoscar Hernández in the first inning, Estes finished with six innings of two-run ball and retired 15 of his final 17 batters faced.

Aside from the hot hitting, the A’s drew confidence from the teams they were able to beat in July. Since July 12, Oakland is 11-5. That stretch includes series victories over playoff-contending clubs in the Phillies and Astros, with a chance to add the Dodgers to that list with one more win over the next two days.

“We obviously had a really good month where we won a lot of games and played really well,” Rooker said. “Our goal for August is to prove that we could go out there and repeat it and do it again and that it wasn’t just a one-time thing. Everybody in here believes that’s the case. Tonight was a good first step in that direction.”