Manaea's September Song Sounds Sweet as Athletics Get Back on Track

Sean Manaea showed some of his typically dominant September stuff Saturday in getting the A's an 8-4 win over the Padres with the offense finally getting revved up.

Last year, Sean Manaea had a September to remember, coming back from injury to make five starts for the A’s, throwing 29.2 innings with a 4-0 record and a 1.21 ERA.

Oakland didn’t fully see that side of Manaea in July or August this time around, but in his first September start, the veteran left-hander was back to his September 2019 ways.

Manaea threw five dominant innings against San Diego and took advantage of some timely two-out hitting from the Oakland offense as the A’s scored an 8-4 win over the Padres that seemed to right the ship after a nine-game stretch in which Oakland had played just three games – two of them in a doubleheader last Saturday – due to protest and pandemic, going 0-3 while being outscored 17-5.

Manager Bob Melvin said that Manaea’s fastball, which sat between 92-94 mph all day led to what was “without a doubt” the best start for the left-hander this season. To get there, Manaea uncovered the best heater of the season. That, in turn, set up his slider and changeup as he struck out five, allowed four singles and a walk while giving up one run.

“Overall, I felt awesome,” Manaea said. “The fastball velo was there. I was locating it well, too, putting it pretty much where I wanted to and not really having any mistake pitches. And then the changeup, and I felt I threw a couple of pretty good sliders.”

It’s been part of a progression for the lefty, who stumbled out of the starting gate with a 9.00 ERA in his first four starts, but who has gradually begun to get back to where he wants to be. In his most recent four starts he’s 3-0 with a 2.21 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 20.1 innings. More significantly, the A’s are 4-0 in the most recent set of four games after having gone 1-3 in his first four starts.

Pitching for the first time in 10 days my have helped Manaea with his velocity, although he would not recommend spending three or four days quarantined in a hotel in Houston without a chance to work out.

“It was weird,” Manaea said of the time spent in Houston after fellow pitcher Daniel Mengden had tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus. “That much time off, especially when you really can’t do much, I’m not that much of a fan of it. But at the same time, it was nice to take that break and really slow things down and take it day-by-day.

“I don’t really want to do that again, having as much time off, but it was good for what it was.”

The A’s are going to need another strong September followed up by a good October if they’re going to go as far as they would hope. Oakland leads the American League West over Houston and no matter what happens in the series finale against the Padres Sunday, the A’s will have the lead heading into a five-game series with the Astros that starts Monday.

Oakland ended August by losing both ends of a doubleheader in Houston last Saturday, then lost four games, one in Houston and three in Seattle, following the positive test news. Then the A’s got four hits in a loss to the Padres Friday. What happened Saturday was, shall we say, refreshing.

“The doubleheader is so far in the rearview mirror, I don’t even remember it,” Melvin said. “It’s more having to mentally grind though the time we were off and then having a tough night last night. So, yeah, it was important to get off to a good start against a hot-hitting team.

“And for Sean to have that stuff and pitch as well as he did, too.”

NOTES:

--The word on sidelined shortstop Marcus Semien is that he might be ready to take some coaches’ batting practice in the cage Sunday to test the discomfort in his left side. There seems to be a decent chance of him returning during the five-game series against the Astros Monday-Thursday, including a Tuesday doubleheader.

--Rookie catcher Jonah Heim got the first two RBI of his career, one while batting right-handed, the other as a lefty.

--Vimael Machin is getting positive grades from Melvin on his defensive work at shortstop with Semien out, even though Machin committed an error Friday night. “I thought he looked really comfortable,” Melvin said Saturday morning. “He had quite a few plays early in the game. You know if you hit it to him, he’s going to catch it.”

--Melvin said there will be a determination after A.J. Puk faces batters at the A’s San Jose alternate site Sunday about whether Puk will then be ready to join the club. Melvin said that Puk’s left shoulder is going to have to be ready to pitch every other day or to pitch multiple innings. The A’s are optimistic, with Melvin saying “I think he’s progressing to the point where we feel good about his return pretty soon.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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