Game Thread #83: A’s vs. Blue Jays

After taking the July 4th holiday matchup against Toronto, the A’s will try to lock down a series win tonight against the Blue Jays,

They’ll be relying on a rookie in Adrian Martinez to do it. None of the rookie starters Oakland has trotted out this year have exactly thrived, but the jury is still out on Martinez.

The right-hander was solid in his major-league debut, but that was all the way back in early May. His most recent one, only his second one in the Majors, didn’t go nearly as well as he allowed 7 runs and couldn’t get out of the fifth inning against Seattle last week. On the plus side for him, he won’t be facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. tonight as he gets a day off. It’s not hard to imagine seeing his bat late in a close game, though.

So which version of Martinez are we going to get? Tune in to find out!

A’s lineup (home)

1. 2B Nick Allen (R)
2. DH Ramon Laureano (R)
3. 1B Christian Bethancourt (R)
4. C Sean Murphy (R)
5. RF Stephen Piscotty (R)
6. SS Elvis Andrus (R)
7. LF Chad Pinder (R)
8. 3B Sheldon Neuse (R)
9. CF Skye Bolt (S)

• RHP Adrian Martinez

Blue Jays lineup (away)

1. CF George Springer (R) CF
2. SS Bo Bichette (R) SS
3. DH Alejandro Kirk (R) C
4. RF Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
5. 1B Cavan Biggio (L) 1B
6. 3B Matt Chapman (R) 3B
7. LF Raimel Tapia (R) LF
8. 2B Santiago Espinal (R) 2B
9. C Gabriel Moreno (R)

• LHP Yusei Kikuchi

How to watch/listen

• Date: Tuesday, July 5
• Time: 6:40 p.m. PT
• TV: NBC Sports California
• Radio: 960 AM
• Streaming (listen): A’s Cast