By Matthew T.F. Harrington
AP photo: The Oakland A’s Yonder Alonso gets the cream pie treatment from teammate Josh Reddick during post game interview at the Oakland Coliseum on Friday night
OAKLAND, Calif. – It wasn’t the storybook debut Sean Manaea and his contingent of 22 friends and family members in attendance had in mind when he faced the Houston Astros Friday night, but the Oakland Athletics ultimately did pull out the 7-4 win. Yonder Alonso blasted a walk-off home run while Coco Crisp and Marcus Semien also went deep for the Athletics.
Manaea, the A’s top prospect acquired from Kansas City last season for Ben Zobrist, pitched 5 innings, allowing 4 earned runs to appear on his way to his first career loss. The A’s (12-12) scored 5 runs in the final two innings to let him off the hook.
Despite his team trailing 4-2 by the time he was given the hook, the 6-foot-5 Manaea was very effective in his major league debut. He threw 87 pitches, 50 for strikes. He punched out 5 Astros hitters, and saw the majority of damage come in the 6th inning.
“I thought he was good,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “That’s not an easy line-up for a lefty to go through.”
After Manaea yielded a solo homer to Evan Gattis in the top of the 2nd, Coco Crisp homered off Houston starter Mike Fiers in the bottom half with a runner on to give the A’s a 2-1 lead. It looked like it would be all the runs the A’s needed with Manaea dealing, but the “Throwin’ Samoan” struggled with command to open the 6th.
“There were some nerves,” said Melvin. “It being his first start, there’s no question. I thought overall though he pitched well. It was not the ball-strike ratio he normal has, but for his first start against that line-up I thought it was good overall.”
The southpaw plunked George Springer to open the inning, then issued a base on balls to Carlos Correa. Gattis again burned Manaea, singling home Springer with no outs while chasing the 24-year-old from the game. Sean Doolittle would induce a shallow pop-up from Colby Rasmus but first baseman Tyler White singled home another run to give Houston a 3-2 lead. Doolittle got Carlos Gomez out, but switch-hitter Marwin Gonzalez hit a one-hop ground rule double to plate another run. Ryan Dull would strikeout Erik Kratz to end the frame.
Oakland’s chances at a W were dim with Fiers on the mound, but after his 7 innings of 7-hit, two run ball, the A’s took advantage of a vulnerable Astros bullpen. Marcus Semien welcomed reliever Ken Giles to the game by blasting a solo homer into the 2nd deck just inside the left foul pole to cut the lead to one. The next batter Billy Burns singled, swiped second base, then advanced to third on a throwing error from Kratz behind the dish. Burns would score on Jed Lowrie’s sacrifice Fly to tie the game.
The A’s narrowly avoided facing an Astros lead heading into the 9th with Ryan Madson on the mound after Carlos Gomez hit a drive that hit off the top of the wall in center. The greedy Gomez chose to challenge Burns’ arm and attempt to advance to third, paying the price by making the first out at third base. From there Madson (10-, 1.54 ERA) retired the next two batters, setting up Alonso’s dramatics.
Oakland’s 9th inning rally began with Stephen Vogt doubling off reliever Tony Sipp (0-1, 5.40). Astros manager A.J. Hinch tabbed Pat Neshek to try to strand the runner, but pinch-hitter Mark Canha moved the runner to third on a sacrifice bunt. Neshek issued an intentional walk to Coco Crisp, setting up the showdown with Alonso with a fly ball in the outfield ending the contest.
Alonso, not your average first baseman, is known more for his glovework than his offensive output. His batting average is well below the Mendoza line and his power ceiling is in the high single digits. That didn’t matter Friday though, as Alonso crushed a Neshek offering into the bleachers in right field for his first Athletics homer and the 7-4 decision.
“We would have taken anything in the outfield grass,” said Melvin. “But right field bleachers works too.”
Game 2 of the series is tomorrow at O.Co Coliseum with Jesse Hahn making his 2016 debut in place of the injured Chris Bassit. He’ll be facing off against Chris Devenski who will be making his first career major league start Saturday for the Astros (7-16).
“We want to play better at home here,” said Melvin. “Anytime you have a comeback, that’s nice.”
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