Oakland Athletics pitcher Sean Manaea works against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, in Oakland, Calif.Ben Margot/AP

Arizona 1-6-0

Oakland 5-8-0

August 20, 2020

By Lewis Rubman

OAKLAND–Baseball lore is filled with curses, the Curse of the Bambino, of the Billy Goat, of Rocky Colavito, fanciful constructions used to mask the disappointment of generations of ironic fans not quite resigned to failure and frustration. But there is another sort of baseball curse, one that is not a rhetorical consolation for loss, but rooted in the nature of competition and the drive to excel.

I call it the Curse of Unrelenting Expectations. Think of Joe DiMaggio in the last weeks of his streak, of Roger Maris as he approached his 60th home run of 1961, of Henry Aaron as he closed in on Babe Ruth’s 714. That sort of curse can end, or at least be abated, when the player who suffers it either falls short of or reaches his goal.

He falls off the cover of Sports Illustrated. and his curse is lifted. But there is another version of the curse. A young player shows great promise and constantly is expected to live up to it. When Dallas Braden recorded the final out of his perfect game, I said to my wife, “Here’s where his troubles start.” We ask a lot of young men who, like Jesús Luzardo, seem able to lift a team from contender to champion but still haven’t established themselves as reliable stoppers. For every Sandy Koufax, there’s a dozen Tod Van Poppels.

Sean Manaea no-hit the Red Sox on April 21, 2018. By August, he was on the disabled list. 2019 was a series of false starts, stops, and restarts, but he looked strong enough to start the wild card game against Tampa Bay. He lasted two innings and gave up four of the five runs the Rays scored to eliminate the A’s.

This year, arm trouble and the Corona virus have interfered with the talented southpaw’s attempts to re-establish himself as a front line starter. He’s had trouble getting past the third, or even the second, time around his opponent’s batting order, and his fast ball has seemed to lose much of its zip. . Tonight he took the mound, hoping to salvage a split in the series with the D-backs and put some more distance between the Ahtletics and the second place Astros. He succeeded.

Facing him was Arizona’s Alex Young, like Manaea, a lefty. He brought a 1-0, 3.86 record to the game, following a rookie year in which he went 8-5 with an ERA of 3.61.

Young blinked first. After Manaea had set the Diamondbacks down in the first with the help of a nifty Semien to Pinder to Olson double play, Matt Chapman, batting in Oakland’s third slot, took a 92 mph fast ball 434 feet into left field depths to give the A’s an early one run lead. It was his seventh round tripper of the season.

They Diamond backs fell victims to another diamond curse in their half of the fourth, the Curse of the Lead Off Double, when Ketel Marte was stranded at second after opening the frame with two bagger to deep center field.

In the bottom half of that frame, the A’s added a pair of runs to their lead when Matt Olson blasted his ninth homer of the season, scoring Canha, who singled and stole second, in front of him. They were 17th and 18th runs batted in.

Young managed to escape further harm in spite of a double by Khris Davis, his second hit of the evening, and Pinder’s fly that reached the center field warning track.That was the last pitch for Young, who didn’t answer the bell in the bottom of the fifth, when Stefan Circhtonr relieved him. Young had thrown 86 pitches (52 strikes) in his four inning stint, allowing three earned runs on four hits and a walk. He struck out four and would be charged with the loss.

Half way through his second time through the Diamondbacks’ order, Manaea gave up his first run, a 390 foot dinger to left on a 75mph curve ball to Eduardo Escobar. But the Throwin’ Samoan finished off the inning by getting the next three men out on a grounder and two Ks.

Manaea still was looking good in the top of the sixth, but he was in his danger zone. So, when Ketel Marte singled with one out, bringing the potential tying run to the plate, Melvin called on JB Wendelkin to dispose of the rest of the inning. He did that succesfully in spite of David Peralta’s Texas League single to left that sent the runner to third.

Manaea’s performance, though curtailed, was encouraging. His line of five and a third innings pitched included just that one run on Escobar’s long ball and four other hits. He struck out four and didn’t walk any one. 47 of his 74 pitches were strikes. He deserved the win, and he got it.

Wendelkin, Yusmeiro Petit, and Jake Diekman blanked the Diamondbacks through the eighth.

Meanwhile Chapman’s second home run of the night, a 42o foot blast to left off Yoán López with Laureano on base, put the game on ice for the green and gold.

Liam Hendricks closed it out with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

The A’s maintained their two and a half-game lead over Houston, who defeated the Astros, 10-8.

The Angels come to town tomorrow in a game that will pit lefty Andrew Heaney (1-1,4.74) againstk rioht hander Mike Fiers O2-1,5.96). Game time is 6:40.