Oakland keeps rolling as Manaea goes down
MINNEAPOLIS — With the last man standing from the A’s original 2018 rotation going down before Sunday’s game, a near-forgotten starter from years past helped Oakland win yet another series.
On the same day that mainstay Sean Manaea went on the disabled list with a shoulder impingement, Chris Bassitt allowed one run in 42⁄3 innings in his first appearance with the A’s in six weeks to help lead a 6-2 victory over the Twins. Third baseman Matt Chapman, playing in his first full season, homered twice to get to 20 and Oakland claimed its 17th series win in its past 20.
“You never want to see anyone go down, and to have Sean go down, someone who’s pitched so well for us and
we’ve really really leaned on and relied on all season, it’s never a good thing,” Chapman said. “But I know he’s going to take care of it and come back strong. Our mind-set is pretty good: We’ve been hit with a lot of adversity and we’ve been able to keep pushing forward and finding ways to win, having different guys step up.”
The A’s are a major-leaguebest 45-16 since June 16 and a season-high 27 games over .500. Oakland stayed 1½ games behind the Astros in the AL West and moved to five games ahead of the Mariners for the second wild-card spot. The A’s head to Houston for a threegame series that opens Monday.
“You’ve got to treat it just like any other game, but obviously there are some implications,” Chapman said. “It’s the last time we play each other head-to-head, and we’re neckand-neck for first place in the division.”
Manager Bob Melvin said Manaea felt discomfort while playing catch Sunday morning. He has not had an MRI exam and is returning to the Bay Area to be examined by team doctors. Manaea had made every start this season and was the only member of the A’s opening-week rotation still on the roster.
“Just overall didn’t feel great, and we just didn’t want to push it with where we are in the season,” Melvin said.
It’s possible that Manaea will miss just the minimum 10 days. If more significant, the A’s might be looking at a stretch run without a major contributor — Manaea has been at times the team’s top starter, particularly during March and April, when he had a 1.03 ERA and threw a nohitter against Boston.
Manaea has pitched at a reduced velocity for most of the past few months, working with a fastball that registered 89-92 mph rather than the 94-95 he’d enjoyed earlier in his career. He still has been effective, going 12-9 with a 3.79 ERA.
“He’s been the same way. The velo has dropped a little bit, but he’s been able to pitch around it,” Melvin said. “There wasn’t any pain or soreness, but today it became an issue.”
Chapman hit solo shots in the first and the seventh, and Jed Lowrie made it back-toback homers that inning with his 21st of the year. Stephen Piscotty smacked a solo homer in the sixth, his 18th, and he also made a nice catch in right in the bottom of the inning, plunging for Max Kepler’s sinking drive in the corner.
Lowrie provided a key blow, a two-run double in the fifth that gave Oakland a 3-1 lead after Tyler Austin’s homer off Bassitt had tied the game in the fourth. Austin also hit a solo shot off Yusmeiro Petit in the sixth.
Bassitt, making his first start for Oakland since July 11, left with two on and two outs in the fifth; Shawn Kelley got Miguel Sanó to line out. “It kills me I have to go get him, but the stakes are a little higher with where we are right now,” Melvin said of removing Bassitt. “He understands that, too.”
A member of Oakland’s rotation in 2015, Bassitt has had a long road back from Tommy John surgery the next year, failing to get called up last year and spending much of this season at Triple-A Nashville. He has been valuable in his six stints with the A’s, though, especially in his past four outings, going 3-0 with a 2.66 ERA.
“A bumpy grind, to say the least,” Bassitt said. “Thank goodness we’re blessed with a bullpen where I don’t have to go that deep in the game. That was one of those starts you don’t have anything . ... I basically didn’t know where one pitch was going; I need to buy BoMel and (pitching coach Scott Emerson) a bottle of wine to calm their nerves.”
Manaea was not scheduled to start again until Thursday at home against the Mariners; Daniel Mengden was scratched from his start at Triple-A Nashville on Sunday, but the A’s are more likely to use him as possible length in the bullpen starting Monday at Houston than to start in that series. If he is used in relief, Frankie Montas could start in Manaea’s place later in the week.
The rest of the A’s initial rotation is either injured (Kendall Graveman and Daniel Gossett had Tommy John surgery; Andrew Triggs is out with nerve irritation in his right arm) or in the minors (Mengden). Jharel Cotton and potential rotation member A.J. Puk had Tommy John surgery in spring training.