San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Huge day soothing for Pinder
In Chad Pinder’s first at-bat Saturday, he fouled a pitch off his right knee.
The rest of his day went much better.
The A’s utility man went 3-for-3 and scored a careerhigh-tying three times to lead the A’s to a 6-4 victory over the Angels that snapped a series of skids.
The A’s ended a seasonhigh, four-game losing streak overall, a six-game skid against American League West opponents and a seven-game slide against left-handed starters, to the delight of 19,185 fans who soaked in a pristine day at the Coliseum.
After needing several minutes to shake off the firstinning foul ball, Pinder ripped a single through the left side of the infield. His next three plate appearances proved even more significant as he seemed to be in the middle of all of the A’s rallies.
Pinder lined a first-pitch cutter over the left-center-field wall to lead off the fourth inning and give the A’s a 1-0 lead. He was hit by a pitch and scored in the A’s four-run sixth inning, and he tripled and scored to put the A’s up 6-3 in the seventh.
“He can be really productive,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said of Pinder, who played left field Saturday — one of the six positions at which he’s started this season. “When he gets on a roll, he’s as productive as anyone we have. …
“It’s about trying to get him regular at-bats, where he can be consistent, see right-handed pitching and feel confident.”
The confidence appears to be returning for A’s starting pitcher Sean Manaea, too. He posted his second straight quality start after a rough May and bounced back from what could have been a disastrous fifth inning.
After retiring the Angels’ first 12 hitters, Manaea let four straight reach base in the fifth inning. Albert Pujols broke up the perfect game with a single to left field, and Chris Young smacked a three-run home run sandwiched between a Martin Maldonado single and a four-pitch walk to Jabari Blash.
“I just told myself to get back on the mound and put the team in a good position. I didn’t cave,” Manaea said. “… When I can throw my changeups for strikes, get swings and misses and keep guys off balance, things go really, really well.”
Manaea ended the Angels’ rally there and came back to pitch a scoreless sixth. He picked up his first win since May 14, because his teammates picked him up in the sixth inning. Marcus Semien hit a towering homer to left-center field that knocked starter John Lamb from the game, and the A’s then took advantage of reliever Noe Ramirez’s wildness to take the lead.
Ramirez hit two batters and walked two others, including Jonathan Lucroy’s game-tying, bases-loaded free pass. Stephen Piscotty followed with a two-run single to put the A’s ahead 5-3.
Pinder extended the A’s lead to 6-3 in the seventh inning, when he tripled off the rightcenter-field wall and scored on Jed Lowrie’s single up the middle.
“He gives great at-bats, and his versatility is huge,” Piscotty said of Pinder. “He just fills in really nicely, and (being a utility guy) is not easy to do. It’s a tough routine, and he’s handled it better than most guys.”
Even when he’s playing with a throbbing knee.