CLEVELAND _ Sean Manaea and Chad Pinder, two of the future-is-now pieces of the A's roster, got the A's back on track Wednesday night in a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Indians.
In ending a four-game Oakland losing streak one night after a 19-strikeout performance in a 9-4 loss, Pinder homered in his first two at-bats and added a single for his first career three-hit game to support Manaea.
The left-handed Manaea is quickly becoming a pitcher the Indians don't like to face. He pitched once against them last year as a rookie, giving up three hits and one run in seven innings last Aug. 23 in a 9-1 win over the Indians in Oakland.
His game played equally well on the road. Manaea opened by retiring the first 10 batters he faced, then after a solo homer by Francisco Lindor, had easy innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh, which got him to 99 pitches thrown with a 3-1 lead.
Manaea turned the ball over to Ryan Madson at that point having thrown 14 innings on the road trip evenly split between New York and Cleveland, giving up just one run on seven hits total.
The Indians got a break on an error by left fielder Khris Davis that could have closed out the game in the ninth for closer Santiago Casilla. Instead, Casilla had to face Carlos Santana as the tying run, ultimately getting him to fly out on an 0-2 pitch.
Pinder's first home run was a solo shot to left off Cleveland starter Mike Clevenger one out into the third inning. Lindor's homer in the bottom of the fourth tied it, but the game didn't remain deadlocked for long.
Trevor Plouffe walked to open the top of the fifth off Clevenger and Pinder followed with a monster homer to left-center that was estimated to carry 441 feet.
Clevenger did well against the rest of the lineup, the Nos. 1 through 8 spots accounting for just three hits and two walks off him. But when Pinder was due up a third time in the seventh, the Indians weren't about to let Clevenger face him again. They went to the bullpen for Zach McAllister, and Pinder drove a single to right-center to get him to a career-best third hit of the game. The three RBIs were also a career best.
