Manaea has rare off-night, but bats no help in loss M’s
SEATTLE » The spectacular month of April put together by Sean Manaea did not carry over into his first start of May.
After a string of dominance to begin the season to earn American League Pitcher of the Month honors, Manaea looked human for the first time as he allowed four runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts over six innings in Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Mariners. It was the first time Manaea allowed more than two runs in his seven starts so far.
There wasn’t much hard contact from the Mariners ( 18- 12) against Manaea, and A’s manager Bob Melvin still saw more of the stuff that made him dominant in his previous six starts. The only difference this time around was the offense struggled help him out.
“We’re used to him shutting everybody out for the most part,” Melvin said. “( Robinson) Cano had a couple of good at- bats off him and ( Nelson) Cruz hit a homer. Other than that, he was good again. Those type of outings are usually gonna keep you in the game, we just didn’t give him enough support.”
Outfielder Dee Gordon had been a nightmare for A’s pitchers throughout the series, and Thursday was no different. Gordon led off the first and third with hits, scoring both innings on singles by Cano. The run in the first snapped a streak of 18 consecutive innings in which Manaea had not allowed an earned run.
Gordon finished the three- game series going 10 for 14 with four stolen bases.
“He was a thorn,” Melvin said. “The dynamic of the game changes when he’s on base. Now you gotta be a little quicker to the plate and you’re throwing over a lot. It takes concentration off making your pitch at times. He definitely had an effect.”
But the run scored by Gordon in the third wasn’t the biggest blow of the night to Manaea. That came later in the inning against Cruz, when Manaea’s 1- 0 changeup was crushed over the wall in center for a two- run homer to dig the A’s in an early 4- 0 hole.
Manaea seemed to get into a bit of a role following the home run allowed to Cruz, allowing just one hit the rest of his outing before Melvin ended his night after the sixth.
At just 84 pitches, Manaea probably could have gone longer, but Melvin cited a “heavy workload” early in the season which saw the left-hander enter the night having thrown 43 2/3 innings over his first six starts as the reason for going to the bullpen.
Less command of his changeup, the pitch he had developed into a reliable strikeout pitch, was what Manaea saw as the only difference this time out from his previous outings.
“Slider was pretty decent and I felt my fastball location was pretty good, too,” he said. “But not having the changeup to throw for strikes is big for me. The more I can minimize that and be able to pitch off that will be key.
The A’s ( 15-16) got on the board with a solo home run by Stephen Piscotty to lead off the fifth, but it was another quiet night at the plate as they were held to six hits, and less than four runs for the fifth consecutive game.
• Ichiro Suzuki’s illustrious baseball career seemingly has come to an end after the Mariners announced Thursday morning the 44-year- old would be transitioning to a front office role with the club.
Thatmeans Blake Treinen’s strikeout of Ichiro in the ninth inning of the A’s 3-2 victory Wednesday night could have been the last at-bat of the Japanese superstar’s career. Big emphasis on “could have,” as the rumors are already floating around about the possibility of him playing in the 2019 season opener between the A’s and Mariners in Tokyo.
“Anytime you get to face anybody who is a once in a lifetime player like he is who transcended two different cultures and two different styles of baseball, I’ve always enjoyed playing against him,” said Treinen, who held Ichiro hitless in five career atbats.