
OAKLAND — The spotlight has been on Danny Valencia for obvious reasons lately, but he did his best to re-direct it to some of his teammates Tuesday night.
There were plenty to choose from.
Heroes emerged everywhere in the A’s 9-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians, from Sean Manaea’s excellent start to Jake Smolinski’s highlight-reel catch to Khris Davis’ 33rd home run.
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Perhaps most encouraging for the A’s: Seeing so many rookies contribute to the winning cause. There was Manaea, displaying some of his best stuff of the season over seven innings of three-hit ball. There was third baseman Ryon Healy chipping in with a three-hit night, and the win was capped by shortstop Chad Pinder and catcher Bruce Maxwell both notching their first career RBI.
Those four were all teammates with Double-A Midland last season, and all are viewed as potential pieces to perhaps help the A’s eventually turn their fortunes around in the American League West.
“I played with a lot of these guys last year at Midland,” Manaea said. “Ever since then, I knew this group coming up was gonna be special. We’re all gonna contribute and today was just a little taste of what could happen in the future.”
And yes, there was Valencia, who played as big a role as anybody in his first start back since his clubhouse fight with teammate Billy Butler became public. He singled and doubled in his first two at-bats, scoring runs after both, and made a terrific throw from the right field corner to nail Mike Napoli trying to stretch a single into a double.
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“It was just a good team win to be honest,” Valencia said. “Recently we’ve been focusing on a lot of negative stuff. Obviously we don’t have as many wins as we’d like, but there’s been a lot of positives that have happened throughout this year with a lot of our guys. Some of that stuff shouldn’t get lost in it.”
The A’s did well to hand Manaea a 5-0 lead by the third inning, and the lefty didn’t allow the Indians any thoughts of jumping back in it. He struck out eight, walked two and allowed just the one run in his longest outing since he went eight innings against the Rays on July 22.
“The last couple of games he’s battled through without great command of his fastball,” Melvin said. “Once he’s able to throw his fastball on both sides of the plate, now it sets up his changeup. His slider’s so much better than it was when we saw it in the spring or earlier in the season. But it was all about spotting his fastball.”
Added Manaea: “Everything about today was just free and easy, just having that confidence, that free and easy motion. It all came together today.”
Smolinski may not be among the rookie crop, but the A’s have installed him as their main center fielder in the second half to provide an extended audition. He got a great jump on Lonnie Chisenhall’s drive to the gap in right-center and extended for a leaping catch that ranks as one of the A’s best outfield plays all season.
He landed on a patch of grass that was much harder than usual because of a recent concert held at the Coliseum, but paying the price was worth it.
“I kind of stuck pretty good when I hit the ground,” Smolinski said. “Yeah, it jarred me a little bit. I’m fine.”
Manaea said he was glad to see Valencia have a good game after all the drama that’s swirled surrounding his well-publicized fight with Butler, who landed on the seven-day concussion DL after the incident. Butler did take the field with his teammates for some light pregame activity Tuesday.
“All that stuff in the clubhouse, it is what it is,” Manaea said. “I know (Valencia) is a good ballplayer and I know he’s going to come out every day and do his best. He’s just here to play ball and he did that today. It was awesome.”