Liriano pitches five solid innings, Martin homers as Blue Jays top A’s
TORONTO — Francisco Liriano’s night started ominously with back-to-back walks to open the first inning. Luckily for the Blue Jays, he turned things around just as quickly.
Working on three day’s rest, the veteran left-hander shook off two straight rough starts to earn his first win since the all-star break as Toronto snapped a three-game slide with a 4-2 victory over the lowly Oakland Athletics on Monday.
Liriano walked Rajai Davis and Marcus Semien to open the game before Russell Martin caught Davis stealing at third base for the first — but significant — out. A run scored on a Ryon Healy single but Liriano escaped further damage with a strikeout and groundout.
“He walks the first two batters of the game, you don’t know what to expect,” said manager John Gibbons. “But then Russ throwing down Raj there at third base was huge, no doubt about that. And he settled in, gave us what we needed.