OAKLAND -- Khris Davis has blasted more home runs than any player in the Majors since the start of the 2016 season, but none were quite as needed as the one he smashed Tuesday night.

It wasn’t the game-winner -- Matt Olson walked it off for the A’s with a solo bomb to center off Brewers reliever Josh Hader for a 3-2 win in 10 innings -- but the celebration inside the dugout when Davis left the yard was just as special.

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“It was a big load off everybody’s back,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “Against [Davis'] old team, maybe a little extra inspiration. We’ve been waiting for this. His at-bats were better and his swing was looking healthy. It was a matter of time before he hit one, and it came in a big spot.”

Mired in the longest stretch of his career over a single season that stood at 29 games entering the night, Davis let out his frustration by demolishing a first-pitch curveball left up in the zone by Freddy Peralta over the left-field wall at the Coliseum. The home run gave the A’s a one-run lead in the eighth, and when Davis returned to the A’s dugout, he was mobbed by teammates, with Matt Chapman waiting for him at the end with a bear hug and a “welcome back.”

“That’s what KD does,” Olson said. “He’s one of the best power hitters in the game. Sometimes you just have to feel it to get it rolling. We definitely hope that’s the case for KD.”

The home run came as part of a 3-for-4 night for Davis, who in addition to hitting his 17th homer of the season also doubled in the sixth for what was just his third extra-base hit since June 18. Couple that with Sunday’s performance, which saw Davis end the game by drawing a walk-off walk against the Rangers, and you have the ingredients for a midseason resurgence by the 2018 Home Run king.

Even during the home run drought, the A’s haven’t been lacking in the power department. They entered the night with the fifth-most home runs in the AL thanks to a lineup that is dangerous up and down the order. But the players know the club is at its best when Davis is crushing bombs on a consistent basis. If the A’s slugger is all the way back, it’s almost as if Oakland is adding another power bat to the middle of the order at the Trade Deadline.

“We’re super excited for the guy because he’s had a stretch where he hasn’t done normal Khris Davis stuff,” A’s starting pitcher Chris Bassitt said. “But for how many times he’s come to the yard and constantly worked, he hasn’t given up one day. Seeing him do what he can do, hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We kind of trade for Khris Davis without trading anybody away.”

While the homerless drought had become a topic of conversation over the past couple of weeks, Davis said he remained unbothered by his lack of power. Of course he enjoys hitting home runs, but what matters the most to him is the overall result of a game, which for the A’s was a third consecutive victory that kept them in control of the second American League Wild Card.

The walk-off victory was the eighth of the season for the A’s, which Davis said is the mark of a playoff team.

“I think we have confidence that we can come out and win those close ballgames,” Davis said. “You can’t teach experience. The more experience we get with those, the more confidence we’ll have.”

Bassitt shuts it down

An AL-leading 21st blown save by the A’s bullpen prevented Bassitt from earning the win, but the right-hander certainly pitched well enough to deserve it.

With what Melvin described as Bassitt’s “best stuff of the year,” the right-hander shut the Brewers down with six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and a walk with six strikeouts.

Entering the night with the lowest batting average allowed by an AL starter against his four-seam fastball, Bassitt mixed the pitch in to keep hitters off balance and lower his ERA to 3.84 on the year.

The only trouble he really found came in the the sixth. Allowing two runners on with one out, Bassitt was on a short leash with newcomer Jake Diekman warming in the A’s bullpen. Tasked with facing the heart of the Brewers order, Bassitt recorded back-to-back outs, including a strikeout of reigning MVP Christian Yelich, to get out of the inning with a one-run lead intact.

“That was as well as Chris has pitched all year and had a really good fastball, more explosive today,” Melvin said. “With his curveball being much slower, there’s a big gap in velocities. He was on it tonight. Very impressive.”

Bassitt notched two punchouts of Yelich, who committed a rarity by striking out three times in a game for just the third time this season.

“He’s a great player,” Bassitt said of Yelich. “Coming here is a little different with the backdrop. I’m sure he hasn’t seen it before, so that played a little into it. But it’s good. He’s possibly the MVP of the league again.”