Manaea shuts down Mariners to prevent series sweep
SEATTLE >> The A’s were desperate for a deep outing from one of their starting pitchers after bullpen meltdowns the previous two nights, and Sean Manaea delivered.
Following a night in which No. 1 starter Kendall Graveman continued his struggles, the left-hander has been the one shining light in the rotation.
Manaea allowed just one run — a homer to Taylor Motter in the fifth — on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts over seven innings in Sunday’s 2-1 win over the Mariners to avoid a series sweep.
“I don’t know where we’d be without him at this point,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He saves the bullpen. He’s pitched great and won games for us. He’s had a heck of an April.”
At 76 pitches through five innings, Manaea became more aggressive as he began to look for more contact to preserve his pitch count. He retired the final six batters he faced in order on just 13 pitches, punctuating his outing by striking out Guillermo Heredia to end the seventh. Manaea is 2-2 on the season with a 1.63 ERA.
Manaea continued to carry himself with the new mentality he sought for himself in the spring. He kicked the old habit of allowing bad thoughts to creep up to his head after allowing a couple of hits or a run.
After giving up the homer to Motter, Manaea said he chose to just act like nothing happened and move on to the next pitch, something he struggled with doing last season.
“Where I’m at right now physically and mentally, I’m in a good place,” Manaea said. “I just gotta keep working on being consistent like I am and take that into my upcoming starts.”
Even in a game where Manaea didn’t seem to have his best stuff, throwing his fastball around 87-88 in the final two innings, he was able to piece together one of his finest starts of the season.
“I think he was getting a little tired. They hit a couple of balls hard toward the end. But he’s finding a way to pitch without a 95 mph fastball,” Melvin said. “That means keeping some balls on the ground and trying to get some early contact.”
The A’s (6-10) got Manaea a two-run cushion before he even took the mound.
Facing Felix Hernandez, who has tormented the A’s over his 14 years in the big leagues, the A’s were able to jump the Mariners ace in the first when Jed Lowrie connected on a 3-0 fastball for a two-run homer over the wall in right field.
Lowrie’s home run was his fourth of the year. His 23 hits lead the American League.
“He’s playing his best baseball he has in his entire career,” Melvin said, referring to Lowrie’s surgery last year to repair a deviated septum which has allowed him to get more sleep. “He seems like a different guy. He’s allowed to work a little harder because he’s getting some rest and he’s as professional a hitter as anybody in the league. He’s been terrific.”
Now up to a .348 batting average on the season, Lowrie credited his daily routine as the reason for the early success.
“I think the results speak for themselves,” Lowrie said. “I’m not focused on results. I’m focused on my work in the cage and what I do to prepare for the games.”
The A’s were fortunate to get those two runs in the first, because Hernandez seemed to lock in shortly after.
The two runs were all he allowed on five hits over 6 2/3 innings as he racked up seven strikeouts without walking a batter.
Melvin had said there was a chance the A’s could shuffle around the set up role going forward after Chris Hatcher was lit up and unable to hold the lead in Friday’s loss, and that seems to already be happening.
It was Ryan Buchter who came on in the eighth looking hold the 2-1 lead, and he did his job with some help from his defense.
After recording the first out in the eighth, Buchter walked Mike Marjama, bringing the speedy Dee Gordon to the plate. Gordon tried to bunt his way on and nearly succeeded, but a fantastic play was made by
Matt Chapman, who came charging down the third base line a fired a perfect throw to Matt Olson for a bang-bang play to get Gordon by only about an inch or two.
It was more of the spectacular defense the A’s have become accustomed to seeing from Chapman, who made a similar play on Gordon Saturday night. Chapman makes it look easy, but Melvin still doesn’t take it for granted. Had Gordon reached base there, Robinson Cano would have come up with two runners on and one out, creating a completely different scenario with the Mariners (8-5) threatening.
“I don’t know how he makes that play. You’re talking about probably the fastest guy in the league and when he puts it down and deadens it like that it’s almost impossible to get him,” Melvin said. “That’s a huge part of the game.
I’m not gonna say you get used to a play like that, but I don’t know that anybody else makes that play.”
Closer Blake Treinen came on with two outs in the eighth and recorded the final four outs for his third save of the season. It was his first appearance since April 7.
• The A’s attempt to sneak optionless powerhitting prospect Renato Nunez down to Triple-A was unsuccessful as he was claimed by the Texas Rangers Sunday.
Nunez, 24, was expected to compete for a spot on the roster in spring training, but a hamstring injury early in the Cactus League kept him out of action for most of the spring.
Nunez crushed 32 homers at Triple-A Nashville that season, but primarily playing at third base and first base, Nunez was blocked at the big leagues by Chapman and Olson.