Adrian Martinez pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his major league debut and the Oakland Athletics salvaged the second game of a doubleheader with a 4-1 victory over the host Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.
Martinez (1-0) scattered four hits and didn’t allow a walk while striking out three. Zach Jackson recorded the next five outs for the A’s and Lou Trivino survived a shaky ninth for Oakland. The A’s won for just the second time in 12 games.
Kevin Smith led Oakland’s offense with two hits, a run scored and an RBI.
Detroit starter Alex Faedo (0-1) gave up two runs on four hits and struck out seven in five innings. The Tigers have lost seven of their last eight.
The A’s solved Faedo in the fourth. Sheldon Neuse led off with an infield single, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Eric Haase’s throwing error.
Jed Lowrie brought in Neuse with a sacrifice fly. Sean Murphy then drew a walk and moved up on Ramon Laureano’s single. Smith’s single to center made it 2-0.
After Will Vest struck out the side in the top of the sixth, Oakland built upon its lead against Andrew Chafin in the seventh. Smith singled, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. Cristian Pache knocked him in with a single to left.
With Austin Meadows on base and two out, A’s second baseman Tony Kemp made a diving grab to snare a Jeimer Candelario line drive and end the eighth inning.
With Alex Lange on the mound for Detroit in the ninth, the A’s nudged their lead to 4-0. Laureano led off with a single, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch and scored on Luis Barrera’s sacrifice fly.
Detroit loaded the bases on two singles and a hit batsman with one out in the ninth. Trivino then struck out Haase but Robbie Grossman drew a four-pitch walk to spoil the shutout bid. Meadows then popped out to end the game.
Tarik Skubal pitched seven scoreless innings and Candelario hit a three-run double to help the Tigers win the opener, 6-0.
–Field Level Media