ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Red-hot Sean Manaea got the support in Game 2 that Sonny Gray could not get in the opener as he helped the A's salvage a split of their doubleheader with Tampa Bay Saturday.
The doubleheader, the only one scheduled in the American League this season, saw Manaea throw seven innings in a 7-2 win. He allowed just two runs while the offense, inconsistent in Game 1, pounded out three homers to give the A's just their ninth win on the road in 31 games.
Manaea has won his last five starts, three of those on the road, improving to 6-3 overall. Evan Longoria, whose single in the 10th inning won Game 1 for Tampa Bay, dinged Manaea with an RBI single in the first inning and a solo homer in the seventh. For most of the rest of the game, the Rays struggled for ways to put pressure on him.
They never broke through. Tampa Bay did become the first team to get six hits off him in 17 starts, but there was never a suggestion that he wasn't in control.
Almost as big for the A's as Manaea's performance was Oakland being able to see left-handed reliever Sean Doolittle pitch in a big-league game for the first time since April 29.Out with a left shoulder strain that cost him 36 games, the veteran pitched the eighth inning and made rather uneventful work of the 2-3-4 spots in the Rays' batting order.
That included getting Longoria on a routine pop fly to right after the third baseman had made life difficult for the A's in both ends of the doubleheader. Doolittle faced three batters and didn't allow anyone to reach base.
Oakland, who had 16 hits in both Game 1 and Game 2, had some big performances in the doubleheader, including first baseman Yonder Alonso, who had six hits, outfielder Khris Davis, who had had five and third baseman Ryon Healy and outfielder Jaycob Brugman, both of whom had four hits. For Brugman, called up Friday, they were the first four hits of his career.
The rookie also collected his first career RBI by contributing a run-scoring fly ball in the ninth inning.
Alonso got the A's on the scoreboard in the first inning with a single and catcher Josh Phegley hit a solo homer in the second.
The game sat at 2-1 until the sixth when Brugman's soft roller down the first base line came to rest on the line, good for a hit and an RBI as Oakland pushed its lead to 3-1.
Manaea gave up Longoria's homer in the bottom of the inning as the Rays crept back within a run, but a solo homer from Ryon Healy and a two-run shot from Chad Pinder gave the A's their first real breathing room of the day in the seventh.
Doolittle took over in the eighth inning with his team holding a four-run lead and showed none of the rust that might be expected for a pitcher having missed six weeks of the schedule. He got Peter Bourjos to pop out to second, Longoria to fly out softly near the right field line and then struck out cleanup hitter Logan Morrison.
Santiago Casilla pitched the ninth inning of a non-save situation.
