OAKLAND -- After some technical difficulties last week, The Jesús Luzardo Show was back in full effect at the Coliseum on Wednesday.

Luzardo had four days to stew over a career-worst outing against the Giants last Friday. On a mission to bounce back, the A’s No. 1 prospect did just that, displaying supreme command of all of his pitches over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a 4-1 victory over the D-backs. The win was Oakland’s 14th in its past 18 games, which kept the A’s in first place in the American League West by 2 1/2 games over second-place Houston.

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“I wanted to get the ball the next day after my last start,” Luzardo said. “Having to sit back and see what I did and know what my plan had to be moving forward in my next start, I feel like I worked with it well. Now I know what I need to do.”

Luzardo allowed just four hits and two walks while racking up a career-high seven strikeouts to help snap Oakland’s two-game losing streak. Getting ahead in the count was a key to Luzardo’s strong night: He threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of the 24 batters he faced.

Coming off a start in which he gave up a career-worst six runs and was hit hard against the Giants, with six battled balls over 100 mph off the bat, per Statcast, Luzardo kept the contact weak against Arizona’s hitters, with just just two balls allowed over 100 mph. His fastball velocity was as good as always, topping out at 97.5 mph, but the difference on Wednesday was his ability to place his breaking pitches where he wanted. Of his 92 pitches, Luzardo generated six swings and misses with his slider and four on his changeup.

“That’s the best [my slider] felt all year. We worked on it and kind of threw it back in the mix,” Luzardo said. “I kind of lost the feel for it in all of my starts this year. Now, I was able to throw it for a strike. It had that late bite on it. I’m glad to have it back.”

Luzardo managed to silence a hot Arizona lineup that entered the day averaging 6.9 runs per game with a .305 team batting average and 19 home runs over its previous 13 games. The D-backs were also on a six-game winning streak.

"There’s some extra velo, some extra octane on the ball, and he had some good secondary stuff,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I think he threw some changeups really late in counts, some 2-2, 3-2 changeups that were quality pitches down in the zone. Then he had a slider that we were out in front of a little bit. It was a strike-to-ball pitch. It looked like he had everything going the way he wanted it to."

After five innings of dominance, Luzardo received major help from his defense in the sixth. With the first two batters of the innings reaching base, Matt Chapman showed off his defensive wizardry by snagging a ground ball hit by Starling Marte and quickly running to third base for the forceout then firing the ball across the diamond to Matt Olson for a double play. One batter later, Ramón Laureano chased down a deep fly ball by Christian Walker for a leaping catch on the run as he approached the warning track in center.

“I think I let [Chapman] know a hundred times that he’s the man,” Luzardo said. “That was huge. It saved me a lot of pitches and let me go back out for the next inning."

That extra inning meant a lot to Luzardo. Pulled with one out in the sixth after a blooper by Kole Calhoun for a single, Luzardo finished what was his longest outing at any level of professional baseball. His previous high was six innings in a start for Triple-A Las Vegas in 2019.

The main reason for Luzardo’s inability to pitch deep into games has been arm injuries over the years that have led to a watchful eye on his pitch count. Now, feeling completely healthy, the 22-year-old lefty is out to prove that he can pitch into the late innings on a consistent basis.

“I feel like everyone has that mentality that I can only go five and dive,” Luzardo said. “I want to show I can go longer than that. I can go six, seven, eight, depending on the pitch count. My arm feels good and my body feels good. I’m ready to show people what I can do.”

The A’s offense supplied some early support for Luzardo, with four runs through the first three innings, including a two-run shot by Mark Canha in the third. All four runs came off D-backs starter Merrill Kelly, who entered the night having allowed only five runs through his first four starts of the season.

“That was pretty comforting, considering we lost the last two games,” Canha said. “It’s nice to get out to a lead and give Jesús some breathing room.”

The ambiance at the Coliseum isn’t quite the same these days without fans in the stands, but the A’s still seem to be performing at their best in Oakland. Wednesday’s win was their seventh straight home win, pushing their home record to 10-3.

“I think it’s just more the routine at home," A’s manager Bob Melvin said. "We started out at Summer Camp here and had our first few games here. Then you go on the road and it’s a little different feeling. We’re going have a stretch pretty soon when we play a lot of games at home. That’s going to be an important stretch. But I just think we feel pretty comfortable here.”