In his return from the DL, Sean Manaea was less than ideal.
The A’s have had their fair share of Three True Outcome (TTO) hitters in the recent decade or so. For those who are unfamiliar, the three true outcomes are the largely defense-independent plays: strikeouts, walks, and home runs. We’ve seen the good (Frank Thomas, Adam Dunn), the meh (Brandon Moss), and the ugly (Chris Carter).
What we’ve got this season in Manaea, though, is some kind of flipped three true outcomes pitcher. Tonight, he gave up 4 runs on 2 hits over 5 innings. Here’s the key: two of those runs were walked in, two came on a Nelson Cruz two-run shot, and despite this mishaps, Manaea still managed to strike out seven.