Baseball is back by the bay
Johnny Cueto, right, and four Giants relievers shut out the A’s in the opener of the final exhibition series.
Giants fans got their first look at the man who tore up the Cactus League, and Chris Marrero treated them to an opposite-field double and nice running catch in left field.
He also came a few feet from his ninth home run.
The A’s had their own feel-good story, and it was Sean Manaea, who threw 43 pitches over four perfect innings in his final tuneup as the No. 2 starter.
In the Bay Bridge Series opener Thursday night at AT&T Park, the Giants beat the A’s 3-0 by scoring three runs in the seventh inning. Brandon Crawford and Eduardo Nuñez hit RBI singles, Joe Panik a sacrifice fly.
Afterward, manager Bruce Bochy confirmed he will use a platoon in left field and that Jarrett Parker will be in the lineup against right-handed pitchers. He
didn’t say Marrero will be Parker’s platoon partner, but it can be assumed.
“Good game for him in his first time in this ballpark,” Bochy said. “It’s not an easy left field to play. He looks confident, relaxed, determined, all those things.”
Manaea will make an Opening Night roster for the first time after an up-and-down rookie season. He said he’s ready to face the Angels on Tuesday at the Coliseum and is confident with his off-speed pitches, especially his changeup and slider.
“I’m excited to get out there and compete and face those challenges,” Manaea said, “especially against guys like Mike Trout. Those are fun challenges to go through.”
Johnny Cueto, who’ll start for the Giants on Tuesday at Arizona, scattered six hits, picked off Rajai Davis at first base and threw 76 pitches in five innings.
“I watched him in my teenage years and in college,” Manaea said of Cueto, “and it’s fun watching him pitch, what he does with all that timing stuff.”
Cueto put a scare in the Giants when he hunched over after a swing at the plate, but he explained later his hands stung because he was jammed on a pitch. He finished the at-bat by bunting into an out.
As for his first Bay Area appearance in 2017, Cueto said, “Didn’t feel like a spring training game. It felt like it was already the regular season, but I guess that has to do with the fans who’re always really good here in San Francisco.”
For someone competing for a roster spot, Marrero has done plenty to impress the decisionmakers. Bochy started him in left field to see what he could do in the home yard, and Marrero twice tracked the ball nicely.
He sprinted for a blooper to left and made a shoestring catch, and he properly played Davis’ double off the wall. One problem: His errant throw to the infield, which cleared both Crawford and Panik, should have been targeted toward home.
Marrero is no defensive specialist. He’d be paid to supply power and get starts against lefties, which was the case Thursday with Manaea on the mound. Marerro’s eight homers — would have been nine, but his second-inning drive barely went foul — make him the clear favorite for the platoon job.
Mac Williamson was in the competition but is shelved with a quadriceps injury. He and Parker weren’t going to be a platoon because the Giants wanted one of them to develop in Triple-A.
New Giants closer Mark Melancon made his San Francisco debut in black and orange and cruised through the ninth inning. George Kontos struck out the side in the eighth, and Ty Blach pitched in relief, possibly an indication the final rotation spot will go to Matt Cain.
For the A’s, John Axford followed Manaea with a scoreless inning, but Liam Hendriks gave up two runs on four hits in a third of an inning.