Stephen Piscotty (25) gets congratulated by Oakland A’s third base coach Darren Bush (51) after hitting a bottom of the fifth inning home run at the Oakland Coliseum on Tue Jul 5, 2022 (AP News photo)

Toronto (44-38). 3. 10. 1

Oakland (28-55). 5. 4. 0

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–One swallow does not a summer make, but two downed Blue Jays in a row can be cause for hope and after tonight’s 5-3 win by the outhit A’s (28-55) over the previously fairly high flying Blue Jays (44-38), there was hope and joy in Oakland

Kotsay & Co. chose right handed rookie Adrián Martínez, recalled five days ago from Las Vegas, to face the Jays this evening. The 25 year old native of Mexicali came to the mound with a 1-1,6.30 record for the year, having gotten the win against Detroit on May 10 with 5-1/3 innings of shutout ball and having lost lto Seattle after yielding seven runs, all earned, in only 4-2/3 frames.

Originally signed by the Padres, Martinez underwent Tommy John surgery in 2016. Martínez ended up going five plus innings, enough to qualify for the win which he got, with more than a little help from the bullpen. He allowed three runs, all of them earned, on eight hits, to have them quadrilaterals, and no walks. 30 of his 82 pitches were balls. He now has a won-loss balance of 2-1 and a lower ERA of 6.00.

The A’s first faced Yusei Kikuchi, who started this evening for the Jays, on March 21, 2019, Japan time, at the Tokyo Dome, where he gave up four runs, three earned, in six innings as the Seattle Mariners’ starter, in Ichiro Suzuki’s farewell performance.

That was his MLB debut. He came to Ontario as a free agent after three years with the Mariners, and brought 3-4, 4.74 record for the season and a lifetime US mark of 18-28, 4.94 with him. Kikuchi had held current A’s players to a BA of .208 during his tenure as a Mariner.

He was not effective against the Oakland lineup he faced Tuesday evening, lasting a mere 2-1/3 innings, in which he managed to allow four runs, all earned although one was posthumous, on two hits, five walks, and two hit batsmen. He threw 52 pitches. A full 30 of them were balls. He took the loss, making him 3-5, 5.12 for the year..

Oakland took an early lead. The first two batters in their lineup Nick Allen and Ramón Laureano walked, and Christian Bethancourt drove in Allen with the A’s first run, sending Laureano to third. He notched the green and gold’s second tally as the team’s offense fizzled; Cristian Bethancourt bounced into a 1-4-3 double play, and Stephen Piscotty ended the inning by grounding out to second.

Matt Chapman received the expected ovation when his appearance at the plate was announced with Cavan Biggio on base with one down in the top of the second. He took two pitches for balls and then erased the hosts’ brief lead with a 424 foot blast to center for his 12th home run and 38th and 39th runs batted in of the season. It came on a 93mph sinker.

Oakland loaded the bases with no one out in the third. Allen lined a single just over the glove of a diving Biggio at first. Then Kikuchi plunked both Laureano and Bethancourt. Murphy´s sac fly to right scored Allen and allowed Laureano to take third.

A four pitch walk to Piscotty reloaded the bases and sent Kikuchi to the showers, Trent Thornton taking over pitching duties for the Jays. He got Andrus out on a pop up to second but walked in the A’s second run of the inning by issuing a free pass to Pinder before getting a called third strike on Neuse to close out the frame.

That 4-2 Athletics’ lead was shortened in the Toronto fourth when Teoscar Hernández took advantage of the warm Oakland evening and a 93mph slider to send the ball 420 feet into straightaway center for his ninth round tripper of 2022.

It took a diving catch by Piscotty of Santiago Espinal’s dying quail to right with two out and two on to get Martínez out of the jam with Oakland clinging to a 4-3 lead. He pitched a scoreless fifth that ended with Murphy throwing out Bichette.

Piscotty gave the A’s a little breathing room going 431 feet deep into left with two down in the bottom of the fifth. He unloaded on a 94 mph four seamer for his second dinger of the year, a blow that drove Thornton from the mound, where David Phelps took over for him to retire the side.

Martínez clearly had very little effectiveness left in the sixth. He gave up back to back singles to Kirk and Biggio to open the frame before being rellieved by AJ Puk. Jays´ manager Charlie Montoyo countered that move by sending in Vladimir Guerrero to pinch hit for Biggio.

He flew out to left, but Chapman laced a single to the same field. Kirk, who had been on second, seemed almost certain to score, but an exciting relay play, Pinder to Allen to Murphy, who handled Allen’s offline throw excellently to tag Kirk, cut him down at the plate.

Puk then proceeded to fan Tapia to preserve Oakland´s 5-3 advantage. Domingo Acevedo took Puk’s place on the mound to start the seventh and set the Jays down in order.

Trevor Richards pitched a scoreless seventh for Toronto.

Zach Jackson mounted the A’s merry-go-round to pitch the top of the eighth. Pinder made a great attempt to catch Bichette’s foul that fell under the A’s bullpen bench before Jackson struck him out swinging.

Kirk provided another moment of uncertainty when he sent Skye Bolt to the wall just to the left of the 400 foot sign in center to track down his towering fly before Jackson fanned Hernández.

Tim Mayza pitched to Oakland in their half of the eighth, giving up only a single to Pinder, who was thrown out by Springer trying to stretch it to a double.

That brought in Lou Trivino to try for his sixth save in seven attempts. He fanned Guerrero. He went 3-2 on Chapman, who then sent a fly that Bolt corralled in deep center.

That brought up Tapia, who hit a grounder to Andrus’s right. He made a spectacular backhanded grab, jumped, pivoted, and threw while in air … too late to get Tapia and first. With the potential tying run at the plate in the person of Espinal, Trivino earned his save by getting him to hit a routine grounder to short that Andrus handled easily, ending the game.

Oakland now is assured of winning the series, which will end Wednesday, in a game that’s scheduled to start at 12:37. James Kaprielian (2-5,5.43) will pitch for the home team, and José Berríos (6-4, 4.74) will be on the mound for the visitors.