Oakland A’s Game # 26: Sean Manaea and the Matts Heat in 5-1 win over Arizona Diamondbacks

The early success of Oakland A in 2020 has been delayed by some of its less heralded players, while some of the major stars have been slower to heat up. On Thursday, a few of those top names stepped up and celebrated the day.

Sean Manaea stepped up in the 6th inning in his best start of the season so far, and Matt Chapman and Matt Olson combined for three homers in a 5-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The win earned the As a split in the four-game home-and-away series, with all four games to the home teams.

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For the second straight start, Manaea held its own for the second time through the opposite lineup, after having its first few times out of the battle to do so. His 5 innings were a season high, his only condition was a season low, and he issued zero walks for the third time this year – overall he has just five free passes from his 109 fighters.

On the other side of the ball, the Matts took care of the offense. Chapman hit a solo homer in the 1st, Olson went deep in the 4th for two runs, and Chapman hit again in the 8th for two more. Those three things were all the score that Oakland needed, which is for the best, because otherwise they would not have collected a hit with rounds in scoring position (1-for-6, and that one was Olson’s homer) .

As usual, the bullpen of the A locked things after their starter was ready. Four relievers combined for the final 11 outs, four of them by strikeout, with only one single and two walks peppered in. Liam Hendriks took the 9th, but did not get a save with the lead of four runs.

Manaea improves again

In his last few starts, Sean Manaea has come a long way.

The lefty was slowly warming up this year as many pitchers have been around the league. In particular, he would blow through the opposite lineup the first time, but then shine through the second time. He has made two advances over the course of his last two, helping him with innings of five plus instead of knocking out in the 4th or 5th in the middle of a big rally.

Thursday was Manaea’s best show yet. After spreading his two singles for the first time through the Order of the Backs, he retired his second time 7-for-9, allowing him just one homer and a double for one total run. That helped him hit the 6th inning for the first time this summer, and, only for the second time in six starts, he left with the A’s in the lead.

Manaea: 5⅓ ip, 1 run, 4 Ks, 0 BB, 1 HR, 5 hits, 74 pitch (47 stakingen)

There is still room for further improvement. His speed took a small step back after he appeared to increase the last time, because he broke only 90.0 km / h four times in this race and came up to 91.1. He showed again that he can succeed at that speed, but you would want to see 92 or 93 if possible. Perhaps related, he does not miss many bats, with only five swinging strikes.

Furthermore, Arizona made much better contact when he saw him for the second time. In the image below, the exact numbers of exit velocities are less important than the general colors – blue is weaker contact, up to pink, and then, the deeper the red the harder it was hit.

Credit: Baseball Savant

The first nine spots are mostly pink and blue. The second time through becomes full reader, including twice as many 100+ mph hits. The hottest entry is Ketel Marte’s third record appearance, which was the hardest hit ball of Manaea’s night. On the other hand, he also collected four strikeouts four times in a row, after not getting one the first time, so that half of the fighters were still angry, while the other half really weren’t.

By Matt Kawahara of the SF Chronicle: “Manaea threw 23 fastballs and 15 off-speed through the lineup. Then: 14 fastballs, 22 off-speeds. After the first, his fastball was 88-89. ”

Add it all up, and Manaea’s night was a positive. It went well in many ways, especially the results. That does not mean that he fixes all the problems that hold him back, but he improves on them enough that they do not sink him this time. It’s not a direct “He’s back!” moment, but it is progress.

Mattack

One thing that worked in Manaea’s advantage was that his teammates put him on an early lead, instead of concluding for six innings and then coming back against the opposing bullpen.

It only took three fighters to get on the board, as well Matt Chapman homere in the 1st inning.

In the 4th, his Stache Brother, Matt Olson, did him with a two-run tater. The runner at the base was Mark Canha, via a walk (and then a steal of second), and his 16 free passes are tied for 12th-most in all major seasons.

Those three runs held for the rest of the night, but they added a few more in the 8th inning just to be safe. This time it was Chapman’s turn again, and rode in Ramon Laureano for two more tallies.

That was 110.9 mph from the bullet, barely its first explosion at 110.0. Both traveled around 430 feet. Monster dongs.

That’s eight homers for Chapman this year, and nine for Olson, who both ranked within the top 14 in the major. Their overall stats still catch on normally, with Olson under the Mendoza Line and Chapman holding a sub-300 OBP, but clearly the power is there and xwOBA loves the contact they make. Do not let those low batting lines fool you, the Matts will be just fine there – and in the meantime they have thrown up a lot of clutch as effective hits this year.

As for the rest of the lineup, Canha continued to be an on-base machine. He reached three times, with a double and two walks, and his high .413 OBP has been a crucial ball in this offense. Even more encouraging is that Khris Davis hit the ball three times hard, earning him a few hits.

Bullpen

I can just copy / paste this section at this point. The bullpen has become so automatic that it’s not even the question of whether they did the work, just who switched on a given night.

On Thursday it was safe JB Wendelken get the last two out of 6 to string Manaea’s final runner; Yusmeiro Petit two outs get in the 7th, but his third try runs; Jake Diekman come in to string Petit’s runner and then work the 8th; en Liam Hendriks going 1-2-3 with a few strikeouts in the 9th.

Bullpen: 3⅔ ip, 0 runes, 4 Ks, 2 BB, 1 hit, 64 pitch (38 strikes)

They may not be so perfect forever, but every day they get closer to the advantage of home field (or at least rules of the home team) for more and more of the postseason. And if they can dominate like that in October … well, you know.

Chappy bang

There was a terrible moment in the 6th inning. Chapman reached out to LF to chase a deep pop-up (shallow fly?) And made a tumbling, diving attempt at it, but he hit the deck hard and found himself jamming his wrist. The coach checked on him and he stayed in the game.

A few innings later, he hit the hardest ball of the night by both teams for his second homer, so hopefully that means Man Chap is just fine.

Teddy bears

If you’ve seen the broadcasts this year, you know that the cardboard cutouts in the Coliseum stands are connected by some oversized teddy bears in the left field corner. One of them came into action Thursday.

Immediately hit, and kept a smile on his face. That’s 80-degree attitude and makeup.

This reminds me of a moment of Wednesday’s game, and a quote from Ray Fosse that made me happy. A foul ball went to the same section in LF and hit a close cut from the former timers of Philadelphia A’s Al Simmons, Tris Speaker, and Ty Cobb. Fosse, Glen Kuiper, and Dallas Braden had the following exchange over the ghosts in the cut:

• Kuip: “They’ve had a great time all year.”
• Dallas: “He’s wearing a handkerchief, not trying to catch it?” (with reference to the speaker of the speaker in the photo)
• Waterfall: ‘No, just smiling and just saying,’ Bring it on, let’s go. Teddy bears will take care of that. ‘”

Teddy bears will take care of it. Welcome to baseball in 2020.

Still believe

This series marked the return of Stephen Vogt to the Colosseum. The two-time All-Star catcher is still as beloved as ever in Oakland, and the A’s showed that by entertaining a visiting player during a game. When he nodded in the 7th, his old “I believe in Stephen Vogt” chant began to pump over the speakers.

Let’s be honest. If there were fans in the stands, then the RF bleacher crew would have done this in real life as well. That’s how much of a local legend Vogt is. And I love 100% the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie and mutual respect behind it, just as I love it when they did the Rage when Grant Balfour returned in another uniform in 2014. It’s possibly fully competitive to be and still be like your old friends on the other side.

Vogt went 0-for-6 in the series, grounded in his only Colosseum-at-bat. But A’s fans still believe.

More Halos

The A’s and D’Backs end up with a split of four games. Next up are the Angels, again, for the third time this year … and also the last time, as this completes their season series. It’s hard to imagine that the Halos are currently playing less ball, so in these last three matchups they could hit just as well before warming up (if they ever do). Friday is Mike Fiers vs. Andrew Heaney at 6:40 p.m.