OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Four relievers combined to allow just one hit in 3 1/3 innings as the Oakland Athletics rallied for a 6-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays .

Oakland starter Ted Lilly left after 5 2/3 innings with his team in a 3-1 hole, but the Athletics scored two runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to win for just the sixth time in their last 15 games.

Oakland entered the game with a .203 team batting average in July.

"The second half of the game kind of belonged to us," Athletics manager Ken Macha said. "It was great work by our bullpen to hold them down."

Ricardo Rincon (5-3) tossed a perfect seventh inning to record the win and Keith Foulke retired all three batters he faced in the ninth for his 23rd save.

Adam Piatt had an RBI single in the fourth for the Athletics and capped the uprising in the seventh with a two-run double.

The bottom three hitters in the Oakland lineup were a combined 5-for-12.

"We got some contributions from some of our bench players," Macha said. "We got some clutch hits for a change."

Tampa Bay starter Joe Kennedy , who was activated from the disabled list before the game, turned in a solid outing, allowing one run and six hits in five innings in his first appearance since May 31.

"I thought he (Kennedy) threw the ball well," Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella . "First time out in the big leagues in over a month. He gave us five solid innings. We wanted him to throw 85 to 90 pitches, that's exactly what he threw."

Toby Hall 's solo home run staked Tampa Bay to a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth before the Devil Rays ' bullpen squandered the lead. Alan Levine surrendered two runs and Jesus Colome (2-5) gave up two.

While Lilly has struggled, going 2-5 in his last 10 starts, he also has been victimized by poor run support. The Athletics were shut out in his previous two starts.

"I felt like I pitched better today," Lilly said. "I was a little more aggressive with my fastball. You always want to be aggressive. I'm happy with it because we won."

The Devil Rays jumped on Lilly for two runs in the second. Travis Lee doubled and scored on Hall's RBI double. Two outs later, Marlon Anderson doubled, stole third and scored on catcher Adam Melhouse's throwing error.

"I was saying to myself I needed to go deep into the game," Lilly said. "I felt like we were going to score runs at some point. I just wanted to stay in there."

Piatt halved the deficit in the fourth before the Devil Rays regained their two-run advantage of Hall's homer in the sixth.

Levine got the first two hitters in the bottom half, but gave up a solo homer to Terrence Long and a double to Melhouse. Colome replaced Levine and surrendered a game-tying single to Eric Byrnes .

"I'm throwing too many fastballs today," Colome said. "I have to throw more breaking balls. Every pitch thrown today was a fastball."

Colome started the seventh by walking Erubiel Durazo and giving up a double to Miguel Tejada , putting runners on second and second.

David McCarty, a Stanford product who was his making his Oakland debut, snapped the tie with a sacrifice fly. After Eric Chavez was walked intentionally, Piatt delivered a two-run double.

"We're trying to get him (Piatt) into situations where he can succeed," Macha said. "He had some hits off Kennedy coming into this game. He ended up getting a fastball right where he likes it and he got that big double."