A's Manaea in search of a better slider

Athletics starter Sean Manaea struggled with throwing his slider in the second inning of his first start. He's looking to change the outcome against the Indians in Las Vegas.

When Sean Manaea pitches today in the first of two weekend games against the Cleveland Indians off the beaten Cactus League path in Las Vegas, it will be the first Athletics game of the spring televised back to the Bay Area.

A’s fans tuning in will probably get to see two or three innings from Manaea, who missed most of last year recovering from surgery before posting a spectacular 4-0 record and 1.21 ERA in September.

Viewers will want to watch the selection of pitches the 28-year-old left-hander throws and how successful he is in getting things done.

This is his second start. In his first, he gave up six runs in the second inning at HoHoKam Stadium to the Brewers. In particular in that inning, the Brewers teed off against his slider.

He was working on that slider, and in the first inning, the results were pretty good. In the second inning, not so much. He also had location trouble with his fastball against the Brewers. He will look to recreate the best of his first game’s work and eliminate the flops.

“I was pretty happy with it; I was able to control it a little bit in the first inning,” he said of the slider. “I felt I threw some good ones coming off my fingertips. I was really happy with it movement-wise. Not location-wise.”

Manaea said it was a good place to start from, that the lack of success in the second inning was something to learn from.

“Obviously getting hits off it is telling me something. I’m not finishing it,” he said. “I’m not throwing it in the right locations. (Knowing that) is a good thing.”

Manager Bob Melvin concurs.

“This is the time to (figure things out),” Melvin said, looking forward. He noted that Manaea looked very much himself in a 12-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning.

As for the fastball, Manaea said he needs to correct the location, because the velocity, about 94-96 mph, is right where he wants it to be at this point of the spring.

“Location-wise, I threw a couple that were down the middle when I was trying to go inside,” Manaea said. “But for the most part, well for some of the parts, it was pretty decent.”

He was looking to improve on that Saturday. And he did, with a little help from pitching coach Scott Emerson.

Manaea said that after his first start, Emerson suggest a switch on the grip of the slider. He did and said "Whoa!" The results were good.