Adrián Martínez picked up his second win of the season in his home debut as the A’s beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 on Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum.
After allowing seven earned runs last week in Seattle, Martínez (2-1, 6.00 ERA) pitched five innings and gave up three earned runs in his third career MLB start after the A’s acquired him in the Sean Manaea trade with San Diego this offseason. The Oakland offense did enough to ensure Martínez’s start stood up.
With the win, the A’s (28-55) clinched their first home series victory since taking three out of four from the Baltimore Orioles in the first series of the season in Oakland.
The A’s gave Martínez a two-run cushion in the first inning as Christian Bethancourt singled in Nick Allen and Ramón Laureano scored on a ground-out double play by Sean Murphy.
In the next inning, former Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman tied it for Toronto (44-38) by hitting a two-run homer to center field.
The A’s took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Murphy and a walk by Chad Pinder that brought Laureano home. Toronto pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (3-5, 5.12) was pulled from the game after 2 1/3 innings.
Martínez gave up his second home run of the night to Teoscar Hernández in the bottom of the fourth. The A’s lead was cut to one run.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Stephen Piscotty hit his first home run since April 24, to center field to extend the A’s lead to 5-3.
Lou Trivino picked up his sixth save of the season as he continues to fill in for injured closer Dany Jiménez.
The teams meet again Wednesday afternoon at the Coliseum as the A’s look for the sweep and the Blue Jays aim to snap a five-game losing streak.
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