BY DANIEL GLUSKOTER
The A’s recorded their first win in ten days Saturday afternoon behind a solid start from Sean Manaea and 11 hits from an offense that provided a much needed shot in the arm during an 8-4 win over the San Diego Padres at the Coliseum.
Coming into the game off a stretch where they’ve lost three in a row and had six games postponed due to protests or Covid precautions, the win enabled Oakland to extend their lead to 3.5 games in the AL West over the second place Astros as a result of Houston getting swept in a doubleheader by the Angels in Anaheim.
Manaea (3-2, 5.09) kept the explosive San Diego bats in check for five innings, allowing a run on four hits while striking out five.
After being shut out on just four hits last night, Oakland jumped on San Diego starter Chris Paddick (3-4, 4.75) for a pair of runs in each of the first two innings to take a 4-0 lead.
Matt Olson’s first triple of the year drove in Tommy LaStella and Mark Canha to open the scoring.
In the second, an RBI single by Jonah Heim and an RBI double by Tommy LaStella helped pad the lead.
A three-run sixth highlighted by a two-run homer by Ramon Laureano extended the A’s lead to 8-1.
San Diego would close the gap with a pair of runs in the eighth including a solo home run by Austin Nola, and a RBI sacrifice fly by Manny Machado in the ninth, but Liam Hendriks was able to minimize the damage and send the Padres down to just their fifth loss in their last 18 games.
The two teams will be back at for the rubber game of the three-game series at 1:05pm Sunday with Garrett Richards (1-2, 4.63) taking the ball for the Padres while Mike Fiers (4-1, 4.86) will be on the mound for the A’s.