A sharp Sean Manaea outlasted Shohei Ohtani Friday night, but exited before a seventh-inning A’s rally delivered reliever Yusmeiro Petit his AL-leading seventh win of the season, 3-1 win over the Angels.
Manaea threw six scoreless innings before allowing the Angels first run of the game in the top of the seventh with two outs. Jose Rojas singled to left with one out and Suzuki bunted to advance Rojas to scoring position. David Fletcher hit a line drive to bring in Rojas from second to tie it at 1-1, ending Manaea’s night. He struck out eight, allowing just the one run on six hits. He walked three batters after not walking more than two since his first start of the season.
This story has been updated with quotes and post-game material from the A’s clubhouse at the Oakland Coliseum.
Petit (W, 7-0, 3.21 ERA) earned his seventh win of the season, all as a reliever. He seems to always get his starting pitchers out of trouble, escaping out of tough situations. He is almost like the godfather for the A’s (31-22). A team leader, one you can trust in any situation.
Melvin on Petit being 7-0:
“I think it is the significance as a starter now. A lot of relievers are getting a lot of the wins but 7-0. It was my fault the other night so I tried to target a win for him… Maybe we will have to start him one of these days, he has done that too so wouldn’t surprise me if he excelled in that role as well.”
Elvis Andrus had the first hit of the game when he singled in the third.
“It is big without a homer too. We talk often about winning games without a home run and how important that will be for us. We do hit a lot of home runs, that is kinda who we are but when we can win games like that, typically happens against really good starting pitching like we saw tonight, be able to scrap some runs and to do it without a home run is big with us. And then good defensive plays, all the things played out in the games that are close and low-scoring.”
The A’s got into a bit of drama in the third when the benches cleared but no punches were thrown. Mark dodged a 98-mph Ohtani fastball near his head and was not happy. Canha mouthed something to Ohtani who seemed remorseful but had a smile on his face. Former Oakland catcher Kurt Suzuki mouthed some words back to Canha before umpires had to hold them back. Canha ended up striking out and Andrus was caught stealing for a double play after some drama. Ohtani clapped as he walked off the mound near the A’s dugout and no runs scored.
In Canha’s next at bat, Suzuki tapped him on the leg and it looked like everything seemed okay. But Ohtani would go on to hit Canha, and he jogged to first base unbothered. Andrus was already on first and headed to second after having the A’s first two hits of the game and scoring the first run. Tony Kemp advanced the runners into scoring position when he grounded out before Matt Olson sacrificed in the A’s first run.
Melvin was happy to see Manaea go deep into the game despite not picking up the win:
“He was fantastic today. I mean, you saw it right away with the velocity too. He hit 95 once 94 a few times. These guys kinda challenge each other, these starters. One guy does it one night and then the next night somebody else’s turn. So unfortunately he didn’t get the win, but boy, he got deep in the game again for us and was significant in the win tonight.”
Petit relieved Manaea and struck out Jared Walsh, the Angels best batter in the lineup to end the inning, picking up his seventh win when he threw a scoreless eighth. Lou Trivino pitched the ninth for Oakland and threw a perfect inning to pick up his seventh save of the season. The interim closer and veteran reliever both picked up their seventh prize of the season Friday night.
Matt Chapman spoke about Petit and how important of a role he plays on the team, he even said the team would have never been in postseason if it wasn’t for Petit:
“He is definitely someone who doesn’t get enough credit and as long as he has been here, he has been amazing for us. We would not have been able to make the playoffs anyone of those last three years if it wasn’t for him so to be able to have him on our team, pitching the way he’s pitching and he always seems to come in, in big situations and get big time hitters out. He doesn’t shy away from big moments and he takes the ball whenever we ask him to take the ball so a guy like that is somebody that is a good leader for all the other bullpen guys, a good leader for guys on our team and the fact that he is 7-0 doesn’t surprise me because he wants the ball everyday. He wants to be in there and he comes in in big situations and doesn’t give up runs. That is why he has that record and I think any attention he gets, he deserves because he has been amazing for us and I hope he gets the recognition he deserves.”
Petit allowed two runs in his last outing and Melvin took full responsibility for it. Tonight he spoke very highly about the most underrated reliever in the A’s organization:
“He rewards me every time. So I mean that’s his type of game. And then he goes one plus. I mean, we’ve seen him do it so many times we get spoiled by it. But yeah, he is really made for the big moments and not a surprise again. Did he get the win again? What is he, he is like a starter. [laughs] What is he 7-0? That is pretty impressive. That is what I do, I try to target wins for him.”
Ohtani entered the seventh inning at 78 pitches and threw seven straight balls. It was all down hill for the Angels from there. He allowed back-to-back walks to Jed Lowrie and Mitch Moreland to put two runners on with no outs. Matt Chapman has been struggling at the plate this season and the Angels may have been too confident with a struggling Ohtani to get the gold glove third baseman out. The Angels made a mound visit and then Chapman hit a grounder to left. Justin Upton made an error scooping up the ball in left and Lowrie scored to make it 2-1. Chapman’s first hit of the game put his team back in the lead with runners on the corners and still no outs. Ohtani was relieved by Steve Cishek but he couldn’t save Ohtani, two more runs scored and that was all the A’s needed.
Melvin said:
“With Ohtani’s 24 percent walk rate with lefties, I thought I was doing the right thing there and then the next thing you know he walks to righties and no lefties there for a while so I got it wrong but these guys came up late in the game like they typically do.”
Up Next
Frankie Montas and Alex Cobb will start Saturday. First pitch set for 1:07 p.m.
Notes
Elvis Andrus had the first two hits of the game off Ohtani and scored the first run of the game. … Mark Canha leads the majors in hit by pitches and added on another, giving him 11 this season.
Simone McCarthy is SFBay’s Oakland Athletics beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @SimoneMcCarthy0 on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of A’s baseball.
