Springer, Houston drop Manaea to 4-4

No-hitters are in the air, and it all started with Sean Manaea, the first pitcher this season to make no-hit history.

Two weeks later, four Dodgers pitchers combined on a no-hitter. Then came Tuesday, just 17 days after Manaea’s April 21 no-no, and Seattle’s James Paxton threw one of his own.

That was the backdrop for Manaea’s return to the Coliseum mound for the first time since the A’s lefty celebrated his historic moment, the seventh no-hitter in Oakland history, at the Red Sox’s expense.

This time, Manaea retired the first three batters to extend his hitless streak at home to 13 innings, but he gave up Alex Bregman’s second-inning homer and three more runs in a 4-2 loss to the Astros.

Despite his fabulous start to the season, Manaea has a 4-4 record, but in each of his first three losses, he received one or no runs of support. Tuesday was less about run support and more about Manaea surrendering four runs for the second straight outing.

In those two starts, his ERA climbed from 1.03 to 2.11. In the latest, he gave up seven hits, matching his season high, and the biggie was George Springer’s two-run double in the fifth, Springer’s eighth hit in his ninth at-bat in the series.

He was 6-for-6 in the 16-2 laugher in the opener.

Manaea said the turning point came with two outs in the fifth when he plunked Brian McCann. Jake Marisnik doubled McCann to third, and both scored on Springer’s double.

“I definitely should’ve done a better job at slowing the game down and taking a breath, refocusing,” Manaea said. “Doing those kinds of things, and I just didn’t do that.”

Manaea was knocked from the game in the sixth by Marwin Gonzalez’s two-out RBI single. Lou Trivino, Ryan Dull and Santiago Casilla threw shutout ball the rest of the way, but the A’s offense didn’t put up much of a fight other than Marcus Semien, who reached base three times off Lance McCullers and scored both runs.

Semien walked to open the first, and McCullers tossed two wild pitches, one that sent Semien home. In the third, the A’s loaded the bases with no outs (a Semien single and two walks), and Khris Davis hit a rocket shot to right that

Springer leaped for and caught for a sacrifice fly.

Matt Olson ended the inning by bouncing into a double play. The A’s have been out-hit 32-14 in the series.

“We haven’t been doing so hot, but we’re facing some good pitching here with Houston,” Semien said. “We’ve got to grind it out and, if it’s a low-scoring game, keep the mistakes down. There’s nothing wrong with winning lowscoring games.”

After his no-hitter, Manaea made starts in Houston and Seattle. During the Seattle series, the A’s were victimized by Paxton, who struck out 16 batters in seven innings and hinted at having no-hit stuff, which he confirmed with Tuesday’s gem in Toronto.

Manaea said he watched no more than three pitches in Paxton’s game while preparing for his start.