Rough May for Manaea

Sean Manaea was two different pitchers in the first two months, posting a 1.03 ERA through April but a 7.18 mark in May.

The difference seems to be twofold: He hasn’t been as good controlling his pitches or keeping his confidence.

“It’s always going to come down to command,” A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said. “The first month of the season, he commanded the baseball, got confident in his command and went right after the hitters.

“He doesn’t have to throw 95 (mph) to be successful in this game. We’ve already seen that. But he does have to execute his pitches and throw quality strikes, and that’s what he did in April.”

Manaea’s latest rough outing was Wednesday when he

surrendered four runs in five innings — he gave up home runs in all six of his May starts — and said afterward, “Just thinking too much, trying to perfect every little thing. When things are going good, I’m not really thinking about anything.”

That was the case in April, when Manaea showed major improvements with his mental game, no longer getting ruffled when in a jam. It was a newfound self-confidence, and it helped him flourish. However, he regressed.

“Sometimes, you may have a bad game and start feeling,

‘Man, I’ve got to do certain things, I’ve got to do more,’ ” Emerson said. “Sometimes less is more. Just be Sean Manaea.

“He’s got to find that confidence again because that confidence will create the quality of pitches. ‘Hey, I’ve done this before. It’s not like I didn’t throw a no-hitter this year,’ because he did. He’s got to get back to that mentality.”

Emerson has been looking at video, spin rates, height release, among other things, but said any mechanical issue would be subtle. If it is a mechanical issue, it shouldn’t be taken to the mound with him.

“Once you go to the mound, it’s all about executing pitches and not worrying about what (your) mechanics are,” manager Bob Melvin said. “The work you put in when you’re not between the lines, you can grind on those things. If you’re grinding on them out there between the lines, it tends to affect you a little bit, and maybe that’s the case a little bit with him right now.”