Bullpen, offense pick up Manaea
Just 12 games in, and the A’s already are following some of their most notable scripts from last season.
Take the homer, for instance. The A’s win when they hit the ball out of the park, and when they don’t ... they don’t. That held true Wednesday against Texas, with all of Oakland’s runs coming on homers in a 64 victory. Behind drives by Matt Olson (two), Ramón Laureano and rookie catcher Austin Allen, the A’s extended their winning streak to five and remained atop the AL West.
“I didn’t even feel it hit the bat,” Allen said. “I just heard it, and it was just relief when I running around first base and saw it go over. I couldn’t even put it in words. I’m happy.”
Allen’s homer, a tworun drive that put Oakland ahead to stay in the seventh inning, was the first of his majorleague career.
“That’s a day he’ll remember forever,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said, noting that Allen also was behind the plate for a win, just as important for a catcher. “Huge contributions from him.”
Oakland is 81 when going deep, 03 in games with zero home runs. Last year, the team was 9035 when homering, 730 when homerless.
Then there is starter Sean Manaea, who, after an abbreviated training camp, is not faring well after his third inning of
work. Is the lefty still working his way into shape? Or is this a onetimethroughthelineup situation? It may be too soon to tell, just three starts in, but opponents are 3for30 (.100) in the first three innings against him but are 14for23 (.609) in the fourth and fifth innings.
“I lost it again,” Manaea said. “I don’t know.”
In his five starts in September after returning from shoulder surgery, Manaea also demonstrated this tendency: Until Wednesday, he hadn’t allowed a run in the first three innings in his past seven starts dating to last season — but after the third inning, in those eight outings, he has given up 14 runs in 18 innings. That’s inching toward a trend.
“I’m not really that worried about it,” Manaea said. “It’s in the back of my mind, but that’s not the root of the problems. There are some different things that I have to figure out.”
Manaea said the short camp shouldn’t be a factor. “That’s just an excuse, I feel like,” he said. “I should be ready. And I feel like I am.”
Manaea did two things Wednesday he hadn’t before this season — he allowed a run in the first three innings, a solo shot by ShinSoo Choo on the first pitch of the game, and then he issued his first walk of the year, including all his spring training outings. In the Rangers’ threerun fourth, he walked Robinson Chirinos, and with two men on, Nick Solak doubled to right, sending in one runner to tie the game 22.
“Just his location kind of quit on him a little bit,” Melvin said. “Got some balls in the middle of the plate, just having trouble getting through those middle innings, but at some point in time, he will, I believe so.”
Isiah KinerFalefa added an infield single, giving Texas the lead, and Rob Refsnyder’s sacrifice fly send in another run and chased Manaea. Burch Smith did a sensational job in relief, retiring all 10 batters he faced, and he hasn’t allowed a run in all four of his outings. T.J. McFarland and Joakim Soria finished up.
Olson hit a tworun blast off Kyle Gibson in the first, Laureano added a solo drive to center in the fifth, and with the A’s down a run in the seventh, Allen, hitless in his previous 11 atbats, clobbered a 20 fastball from Ian Gibaut into the seats in rightcenter. Olson added his second shot the next inning, and 18 of the team’s 32 runs at the Coliseum have come via homers.
Allen, obtained in the Jurickson Profar deal with the Padres in December, was known as a prolific power hitter in the minors, with 75 homers and 300 RBIs in 472 games.
“I love the way he catches and obviously he had the hitting showcase tonight,” Manaea said. “To get that off his back is huge.”