Manaea looks a lot like playoff starter

Left-hander allows three hits in win over Rangers

ARLINGTON >> With two weeks left in the regular season, another wildcard berth is ever closer in Oakland’s reach. And it’s very possible that when the music stops this three-team musical chairs session will see the A’s atop the ranks to play the one-and-done at the Coliseum.

It might be too soon to predict how a wild-card game lineup might sort itself out — things can twist and turn, go wrong or right — but why not project a little bit?

With the offense mashing at absurd rates, we can zone in on the potential pitching situation come the postseason. And, unlike 2018, the A’s have a dynamic and deep list of op

tions who can start and, yes, finish the game.

Stinger scare and Houston blip aside, Mike Fiers has been one of the most consistent starters in baseball. Between this Texas road trip and his no-hitter against the Reds in May, Fiers compiled a 2.59 ERA — seventh best in the majors over that span. Chris Bassitt, Brett Anderson along with new additions Tanner Roark and Homer Bailey have all put together stretches of late that would make them viable wild-card candidates, too. But, what if the A’s did exactly what they did in their 6-1 win Sunday afternoon? (A win in which they broke the A’s franchise record for home runs in a single season.) It wouldn’t be surprising to see this particular piggyback one-two punch in big games to come.

“The way we’ve been doing this piggyback thing, pause for thought for how potentially we could be using this down the road,” manager Bob Melvin said, knocking on wood. “Obviously, we have to get there, a there’s lot of work between here and now. But you definitely think about some options, especially with (Jesús) Luzardo coming out of the ’pen and doing what he’s doing and (A.J.) Puk doing what he was doing the other night.”

A piggyback might be a little risky. But the A’s are never ones to shy away from risk and experimentation, or flow with the hot hand of the moment. And, given the bullpen’s shakiness throughout the year, maybe risk is a safe bet.

Sure, it would involve starting a left-hander with the fewest starts this year under his belt and a pitcher with some of the best stuff on this squad with next to no experience on a big league mound. But the pros outweigh the cons.

Yes, Sean Manaea could be an option to start a potential wild-card game. He’s a fresh arm who’s taking little time to meld back into his ace role.

This year Manaea’s velocity isn’t sitting mid-90s; it’s barely hovering around the low-90s. In his third start of the year against the Rangers, he pitched six innings, allowing three hits with six strikeouts on 95 pitches. His fastball topped out at 92 mph — once.

It sounds cool and promising to toss out a powerful or proven starter in a door-die game from the get go; high stakes, high velocity, more strikeouts/outs makes sense. But in three starts, Manaea’s shown a dynamic kind of ability to generate swing-and-misses and enough soft contact.

Velocity isn’t necessary because Manaea’s delivery is deceptive, which helps his changeup play nicely off of his fastball — whatever its burst. Small sample size, sure, but Manaea’s 0.50 ERA over three starts with 21 strikeouts doesn’t seem flukey.

We know, too, that the A’s aren’t afraid to take risks with pitching. Starting Manaea seems both safe and a bit risky. Still only a few starts off his rehab assignment, he’s lost steam toward the mid-innings in a few of his starts.

This is where Luzardo comes into play. Why not blend deception with filth into one major game?

With consistent competitive play going down on a nightly basis, Minute Maid Park has developed a regular postseason feel. Our first look at Luzardo happened to be on the road, in a tight postseason race against one of the most potent offenses in baseball’s modern era. He went three innings, displaying a filthy two-seam and four-seam fastball mix with extraordinary late movement that reached 99 mph. He gave up a home run and struck out two in three innings of work.

Sunday afternoon we saw how Luzardo navigates through tough spots. In his three innings in relief of Manaea, Luzardo ran into some bases-loaded, no-out trouble in the eighth inning.

The left-hander thinks one step ahead, and seems to move at that pace when he’s cruising. But after giving up a lead-off double, a run scoring on a passed ball and giving up a few walks and hits, Luzardo slowed things down. He’d never really lost control.

He struck out Nick Solak on three pitches and Rougned Odor on a filthy back-foot slider before inducing an inning-ending groundout to limit the damage.

Luzardo’s precise execution in Houston showed us how he can thrive, his outing in Texas demonstrated the 21-year-old’s poise.