Oakland A’s starter Sean Manaea threw another dandy pitching into the sixth giving up only two hits against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Ring Central Coliseum on Wed Jun 9, 2021 (AP News photo)

Arizona 0 – 2 – 0

Oakland 4 – 6 – 1

By Lewis Rubman

Wednesday June 9, 2021

OAKLAND–Sean Manaea, the Oakland A’s (37-26) starting pitcher, took the mound this afternoon hoping to continue his current stretch of effective pitching. The southpaw was 1-0, 0.87 over his last three starts, during which opposing batters managed to hit a measily .200 against him.

This has been an up and down season for the A’s southpaw, in his four previous starts, those numbers were 0-1, 6.64, and .326 respectively. In his two most recent performances, he’s shown a tendency to get stronger as the game progresses. He threw 111 pitches in his last previous outing, a complete game shutout of Seattle on June 2. His performance today, while not as masterful as that one, was admirable.

He gave up a clean single to Tim Locastro with two down in the top of the second, and no Arizona Diamondback (20-43) batter touched him for a safety until Ketel Marte sent a weak dribbler between the mound and the third base foul line in the sixth.

Manaea walked Eduardo Escobar in the first and didn’t yield another free pass until the same top of the sixth in which he was the victim of Marte’s infield single. He got out of that inning, his last, unscathed. Once more, as he had a week ago, Manaeea threw 111 pitches. 76 of them were strikes.

His strike out total was three. He earned the win. A trio of relievers replaced him. The first was Yusmeiro Petit, followed by a 1-2-3 inning later by Lou Trivino. Jake Diekman came in to close it out in the ninth. Betweeen them, they preserved the two hitter and the shutout.

Manaea’s opposing number was rookie right hander Matt Peacock, whose record stood at 2-2, 4.68 He’d faced the A’s only once before today, pitching to — and striking out — one batter, Stephen Piscotty.

The Athletics caught a break in the top of the second when, with Matt Chapman and Elvis Andrus on base and two out, Ketel Marte caught Mark Canha’s fly against the left center field wall … and then dropped it. At least, that’s what the umpires, here and in New York, said had happened, although it seemed as though Marte had taken several steps after bouncing off the wall and before losing control of the ball.

The decision, however counterintuitive it may have seemed, was correct. Rule 509 (a)(1), says that, for a such a play to be considered a catch, the ball’s release must be “voluntary and intentional.” The next batter, Jed Lowrie, hit a hard liner back to the mound that caroomed off Peacock’s leg and bounced towards short for an RBI single that gave Oakland a 3-0 lead and sent Peacock to the showers.

His replacement was Joe Mantiply, who ended the frame by fanning Olson.Peacock had pitched 1-2/3 innings and thrown 48 pitches, 25 for strikes. He allowed three runs, all earned but none deserved, on three hits and three walks.

He chalked up one strike out and was charged with the loss. Mantiply gave way to Humberto Castillano at the start of the Oakland fourth. He held the A’s to one hit over the three innings he hurled before yielding to Stephan Crichton, who came in to face Oakland in their half of the seventh.

The A’s caught another break in their half of the seventh when a Diamondback couldn’t catch another would-be out. Canha’s inoffensive pop up to second fell untouched to the ground when Ildemaro Vargas lost it in the sun. Lowrie singled Canha to third, and Olson’s sacrifice fly to the center field warning track, plating Canha with Oakland’s fourth tally.

The uncaught popup went down in the books as a hit, the run, though like the three against Peacock, was, though unmerited, earned, and charged as such to Crichton. The ex-Athletic Joakim Soria pitched the eighth against his old team. He struck out all three batters he faced. The A’s will begin a four game series against Kansas City at 6:40 tomorrow evening. Frankie Montás (6-5, 4.52) will face off against Mike Minor (4-3, 4.84)

Before signing off on this report, I’d like to correct a mistake in the one I. wrote on last night’s A’s win over the Diamondbacks. Yesterday was not Pride Day in baseball; that will be this coming Friday, the eleventh. Last night, the Athletics celebrated Bob Melvin’s having surpassed Tony La Russa as the second most winning manager, behind Connie Mack, in franchise history.

My notes about this coming Friday’s event somehow found their way into the text of my Tuesday dispatch. To make amends, I’ll throw in this tidbit: In 1988, Billy Bean, Vice President and Special Assistant to the Commissioner of MLB, with emphasis on social responsibility and inclusion, Billy Beane, the A’s Executive Vice President, and Pete Rice played for the Toledo Mud Hens. They were known as “The Rice and Beans Outfield.”