HOUSTON -- Athletics left-hander Sean Manaea stood for six innings, with few blemishes, against the strongest offense in baseball on Friday, far outperforming any of his previous three starts this month.
He induced five groundouts and four flyouts in a 95-pitch outing in Oakland's 3-1 loss to Houston at Minute Maid Park. Manaea rebounded from his last start, when he allowed six earned runs and didn't complete the first inning vs. Baltimore, and he hadn't completed four innings in three straight starts.
"This game is huge for me," Manaea said. "I definitely needed to bounce back, especially after the last three starts.